The Battle of Kulikovo is the second scenario of the City to State chapter and third scenario of the The Rise of Moscow campaign in Age of Empires IV. It depicts the Battle of Kulikovo of 1380, between the Rus forces led by Prince Dmitry of Moscow and the Golden Horde led by Mamai, considered the first great Rus' victory against the Mongols.
Intro[]
Scenario description[]
Bolstered by his allies, Prince Dmitry set out with an audacious goal: to defeat the Horde in battle.
Opening cinematic[]
Under Grand Prince Dmitry, Moscow had grown rich, and allied itself with old adversaries. Together, the Rus allies were ready to challenge the dominance of the Mongols… and stopped paying them tribute.
On the banks of the river Don, Dmitry would stake his life on being the first Rus leader to defeat the Horde in battle.
Loading screen[]
Prince Dmitry and his allies prepared to make a historic challenge – the Rus would take the fight to the Mongol army. It would be victory or death.
Start of scenario[]
Arriving at Kulikovo, Prince Dmitry and his army would rendezvous with allied forces from all principalities loyal to Moscow. Together, they would challenge more than a century of Mongol dominance.
Scenario instructions[]
Starting conditions[]
- Age:
Castle Age - Units:
- Prince Dmitry
- 2 Warrior Monk
- 3 Scout
- 14 Knight
- 24 Man-at-Arms
- 24 Crossbowman
- Resources: 100 food
Differences between difficulty levels[]
- On Easy difficulty: The Rus Army brings more units and the enemy attack waves are not as substantial.
- On Hard: The Rus Army brings fewer units and the enemy attack waves are larger.
Objectives[]
- Prepare to fight the Mongol Horde
- Lead Dmitry to Rus allies to deliver battle orders
- Lead Dmitry to Rus villages to recruit soldiers
- Position your army on the center ford of the Smolka river
- Mongols must not cross the Don river
- Repel the Mongol Horde
- Support your allies at the Smolka river fords
- Support your allies holding the central hill
- Support your allies at the Don river ford
- Optional: Signal the cavalry to attack when needed
Players[]
- Prince Dmitry: The player begins with a mid-sized force of cavalry, infantry, and archers, and will soon recruit more from the nearby Rus settlements. They will have to prevent the Mongols from crossing the Don River, by beating back ten waves of enemy attackers with the help of their Rus allies.
Allies[]
- Village (Rus): The local Rus settlements harbor friendly troops which Dmitry can recruit to his cause, but otherwise play no role in this scenario.
- Rus Army (Rus): The allied Rus forces will attempt to hold back the Mongol assaults alongside the player. Like Prince Dmitry's forces, they consist of Spearmen, Men-at-Arms, and Crossbowmen, but will not bring any cavalry to the battle. They will, however, begin in control of the Knights which gather to ambush the enemy forces from behind, before these are given to the player's control at their signal.
Enemies[]
- Golden Horde (Mongols): The Mongols will come in ten waves of varying unit composition to overrun the Rus forces guarding the Smolka and Don Rivers. Their forces will include Veteran Spearmen, Men-at-Arms, Archers, Horsemen, Lancers, Mangudai, and siege engines, namely Springalds and Mangonels. They do not have a base on the map, so cannot be defeated pre-emptively.
Strategy[]
A straightforward battle survival scenario without any base-building, success will come down to effective micro-management of the different units at the player's disposal. The objective is to survive ten enemy attack waves, without allowing the Mongols to cross the Don River.
The player starts in the southwest of the map, by a village next to a bridge on the River Don. Their first task is to recruit reinforcements from the nearby Rus settlements, including the two villages just to the west of the player's position, and a larger settlement in the south corner of the map. The player should also send their Scouts to explore the region, picking up the Treasure Chests dotted across the entirety map south of the Smolka River. There is also a small settlement to the northwest of the bridge near the player's starting position which contains several Spearmen and a Blacksmith. Once one of the player's units gets close enough, these will convert to the player's control, allowing the research of Insulated Helm and Decarbonization with the collected gold. With the reinforcements recruited, the player will be tasked to help their Rus allies defend three fords on the Smolka River from Mongol assaults, the first wave of which will consist largely of infantry and archers.
As the narrator suggests, the player should keep their forces in reserve and move to aid their allies at whichever crossing seems most at risk of being overwhelmed by the enemy assault. While the Warrior Monks' Saint's Blessing ability will help the Rus troops in battle, the player should make sure to pull them out before they are killed, as their healing is critical to their units' longevity. Since Prince Dmitry also has a healing ability, it may be a good idea to divide the player's Warrior Monks between the three fords, placing them behind the allied troops to support them and setting them to Stand Ground stance when not being actively managed. As always, cavalry should be kept at the flank, so as to bypass enemy infantry and hit their Archers during their assaults.
After fending off two or three waves, the player's forces will likely be too weakened to hold the fords from further attack, so a retreat to the central hill is in order. As soon as the player retreats, their allies will do likewise, and they will be further reinforced by additional troops from the south. With their units positioned defensively between the Wooden Fortresses that the allied Rus built on the hill, the player should brace themselves for the next assault waves, which consist this time of cavalry, both melee and ranged. The big battles in this scenario can become quite messy, which can be to the player's advantage, as the A.I. will often maneuver their units in useless ways while attempting to flank the player or their allies. Nonetheless, the player should make sure that the enemy melee cavalry do not reach the player's archers or monks.
As the next attack wave hits, the player will also be informed of allied Knights gathering in a Stealth Forest to the northwest, in preparation to ambush the enemy forces. These will attack after the player gives the signal, but should be saved for later, as until they are called, their numbers will continue to grow (reaching a total of forty). By the time the player deals with the fifth wave of attackers, their allies will likely have been largely destroyed. However, the player will soon be informed that a new line of defenses is being prepared to the south, by the Don River. The player should therefore retreat to the final position before the next wave and allow their allies on the hill to sacrifice themselves while the player waits for the allied Knights to gather. As the allies are overwhelmed, a fresh detachment of forces will be sent from the south, whereupon the player should ready themselves for the final assault.
The next enemy wave will consist of sizeable numbers of cavalry, infantry, and archers, supported by Springalds, and quickly devastate the allied defenders. When at least 35 Knights have been gathered, the player should signal them to attack by clicking on the button in the top right corner, and send these to attack the westernmost enemy detachment from behind, taking out the Springalds first. Before the next assault, the player should pull their forces all the way back to the river and have them healed. The seventh wave of enemies will be accompanied by Mangonels, so it is important to quickly maneuver the player's Knights to deal with these before they can devastate the Rus infantry. Should the player's Knights be charged by the enemy cavalry while their allies stay idle, they can pull the cavalry back behind these and flank back around to take out the Mangonels.
The next two waves will consist largely of infantry supported by foot archers and Springalds, so a fair amount of micro-management will be needed, since by this point Knights will likely make up the better part of the player's forces. The last wave will have a combination of the all the enemy unit types seen thus far, so the player should make sure not to engage their forces until their allies are in the fray, as every unit counts at this point. With the last wave defeated, the scenario will complete.
Outro[]
End of scenario[]
For the first time in over a hundred years of subjugation, the armies of the Rus defeated the Mongols in battle. For three days and nights, Prince Dmitry buried the fallen in the fields of Kulikovo.
He became known as 'Donskoy' – the victory at the river Don.
Post-game screen[]
The Rus allies inflicted a heavy defeat on the Horde – the first of its kind. Prince Dmitry earned the epithet 'Donskoy', the victor at the river Don.
Page From History: Saint Dmitry Donskoy[]
| “ | Grand Prince Dmitry did not always have easy relations with the hierarchs of the Orthodox Church. But his great victory at Kulikovo made of him a national hero, one credited even today with turning the tide in the struggle for Rus independence from the Golden Horde. Legends grew around the battle, including the story that the venerable abbot Sergey of Radonezh blessed the prince and sent his two bravest monks into battle with Dmitry to inspire the troops and provide spiritual legitimacy to the fight. Still, the Russian Orthodox Church did not soon forget Dmitry's conflicts with the religious leaders of his own time. It was only in 1988, some six-hundred years after his great victory, that the church made Dmitry Donskoy a saint - giving him religious stature to match his historical and cultural importance. |
” |
Gallery[]
