The Scourge of God is the first scenario in the Attila the Hun campaign in Age of Empires II: The Conquerors. It is based on the time when Attila was co-King of the Huns with his elder brother Bleda in 434 - c. 445 A.D., but with the order of events changed for dramatic reasons.
Scenario instructions
Starting conditions
- Starting Age: Dark Age
- Starting resources: None
- Population limit: 125
- Starting units:
- Gaia units:
- 12 Villagers
Objectives
- Attila must survive.
- Attila must make sure Bleda is killed and return to the Huns' camp. Only then can the Huns ride against their enemies.
- Defeat 2 of your 3 remaining enemies (the Scythians, Romans, and Persians).
- OPTIONAL: Rescue Hun captives from the Roman fort to the south.
- OPTIONAL: Free the Scythian Scout from the Roman fort. He promises a reward.
- OPTIONAL: Bring Attila to the Scythian village to the west to discuss an alliance.
- OPTIONAL: Send 10 Horses to the Scythian palisade so the Scythians can supply Attila with soldiers.
Hints
- 1. Bleda may be defeated in several ways; you can change your stance with him to Enemy and attack him, see that he dies in an accident, or refuse his challenge altogether and flee the Hun camp.
- 2. Look for allies in unlikely places. The Scythians (green) are not on good terms with the Romans (blue) so it may be possible to convince the two to fight against each other.
- 3. The Huns may only reach the Castle Age.
Players
Player
- Player (Huns): The player initially commands no troops as all of the Huns are loyal to the Hunnic king, Bleda. After a short intro, the player gets to control Attila. The Hun base is in the northeast of the map.
Allies > Enemies
- Bleda's Huns (Huns): After defeating Bleda, his Huns join the player
Enemies
- Western Roman Empire (Byzantines): The Western Roman Empire has a fort to the south where it holds some Huns captive. The Romans rely on their infantry in combat. The do not advance past the Feudal Age since they do not have a Town Center.
- Scythians (Mongols): The Scythians have a scattered encampment to the west. Because the Scythians are a nomadic people, there are unmined reserves of stone in their area. They mostly use Cavalry Archers.
- Persians (Persians): The Persians have a fortified city across the bay to the east. They hoard lots of gold, and their army consists of Mangonels and War Elephants as well as a considerable navy.
Summary
Attila's brother, Bleda the Hun, betrays his brother while out on a Boar hunt. Attila must kill Bleda, allow the boar to do the same, or escape the Hun base and start up his own town from scratch. To win, defeat any two opponents: Scythians (green), Persians (red) and Western Roman Empire (blue). The Scythians will form an alliance with Attila if he frees their prince from the Roman Camp and then delivers 10 Horses.
Strategy
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Ways to kill Bleda
There are many methods to having Bleda killed. Each reaps different benefits, so choose carefully.
Attack Bleda directly
Bleda will lead Attila in the forest in order to lure and kill the Iron Boar. At this point it's best to change diplomacy against Bleda and start attacking him with Attila. Attila is statistically superior to Bleda and can kill him.
After Bleda is killed, return to the camp and stay close to the larger group of Tarkans to the right. Soon a group of archers, loyal to Bleda, will accuse him of unfairly killing Bleda. The Hun Commander (a stronger Tarkan) will counter-accuse them of plotting against Attila. A fight then breaks out, the larger group of Tarkans will join Attila, while the few to the left remain under Bleda's control. Concentrate on killing the archers. As soon as all the archers are killed, all of the remaining Huns will join Attila.
Have Bleda die in an "accident"
Another way is having Attila lure out the Iron Boar, and Bleda will follow and attack it with him. When the boar is lured out, have Attila retreat. Bleda will call him a coward and face the boar alone. Because the boar is strong with a lot of HP, it will kill Bleda.
After Bleda is killed, return to the camp and stay close to the larger group of Tarkans to the right. The dialogue that runs will be exactly the same as before. Kill the archers and the rest of the Huns will join him.
Flee the Hun Camp
If Attila decides to keep close to the Tarkans for a while, the Tarkans will demand to follow Attila. After a while, a few will join him. They will tell him to go to their families across the river. Take Attila and the Tarkans to a bridge to the southwest. Eventually Bleda will disown him and set stance to enemy. Continue on the bridge and encounter a group of villagers. They will join him and give him starting resources. Prepare quickly, as Bleda will soon lead his Tarkans to attack the camp. Due to a bug, killing Bleda alone won't be enough. There is also another Tarkan that has to be killed so that all Bleda's huns will join Attila. It's recommended to save right after killing Bleda. When it's done, Attila will become ruler of the Huns.
This is the only method to get the villagers and their resources. If Attila becomes ruler any other way, they will not appear.
Kill the Boar with Bleda
Attila can also decide to take the honorable path and kill the boar alongside Bleda. Upon the boar's death, Bleda will thank him for his help, then suddenly betray him and order his archers to fire on him. Have Attila quickly retreat to the Tarkans. Once there, Bleda's diplomatic stance will quickly change to ally. The Tarkans will be outraged at Bleda's betrayal and deem him unfit to rule. The Tarkans will then all join Attila. Go kill Bleda and his archers, and all the Huns will be under Attila's control.
Let Bleda start fighting the boar, run away and run back
Go near the Iron Boar so Bleda starts attacking. When he does so, make Attila run back and cross the bridge in order to get four Villagers and some resources. After Bleda is killed by the boar, run back to the Tarkans before the Archers arrive (staying on on the same side of the river as Bleda's camp before the town may be better). Doing so will trigger the dialog of the archer saying Attila has betrayed Bleda and the Hun commander's dialogue but as soon as he finishes talking Bleda will resign and the dialogue of "When Attila comes back to the camp he will be the only leader of the Huns" will play while you get all Tarkans undamaged, the archers, the Hun camp extra resources and four extra villagers, making this the best start possible.
Attacking the Western Roman Empire
Immediately start researching Feudal Age and task the three Villagers to start gathering food. With the remaining Tarkans start attacking the Western Roman Empire before they become too much of a threat. The Tarkans should ideally be able to get rid of their Militias/Men-at-Arms and Archers. Focus on taking out the towers, followed by military buildings. Convert the Villagers and use a Tarkan each to free the Villagers and the Scythian prince (represented by a Scout Cavalry). Once the Romans lose all of their buildings, they will resign.
Forging an alliance with the Scythians
Once the Scythian prince reaches his Village, the Scythians will extend an invitation to Attila to discuss an alliance. Station Attila in the marked area. The Scythians will request 10 horses, which if provided carries a reward of a number of Mangudais. If Attila sets diplomatic stance with them to enemy, they will do likewise, so be careful.
Defeating the Persians
The player has the choice to defeat the Scythians, but the Persians are the most sensible choice. Gather as many Cavalry Archers as possible. Build a Castle on the Southern boundary of the Hunnic domain (near the shallows connecting the Persians) to lure the Persian Galleons, Knights and Mangonels.Build a dock and assemble 8-10 fire ships to take care of the Persian Galleons. Inevitably the Scythians will start attacking the Persians as well. Due to a diplomacy error, the Persians will not retaliate against the Scythians, significantly thinning their numbers. Use a few rams to break the Persian gates, towers, castle and town centers. Once the Persians lose all their villagers, they will resign.
Trivia
- The Scythian prince (referred as Scythian Scout in the scenario) was originally going to appear as a Light Cavalry hero, but it was changed to a Scout Cavalry with high hit points for unknown reason. The hero unit is available in the Scenario Editor.
- In Age of Empires II: The Conquerors, Bleda the Hun is not classified as a hero but as a common unit, doesn't regenerate health, and can be converted by Monks in the Castle Age. However, he is reclassified as a hero with the usual traits after Age of Empires II HD: The African Kingdoms.
- In the Definitive Edition, the Western Roman Empire player is changed to be the Eastern Roman Empire instead, presumably since the Eastern Roman Empire is a better geographic and historical fit to the map.
- If Bleda is provoked to chase Attila across the river he, along with all other Hunnic units across, will also convert automatically to Attila's side.
- The Roman dialog "Our arrangement was with Bleda! We will not turn the captives over to Attila, you must take them by force!" will trigger when the player places any unit near the Roman camp, even if said unit is Bleda himself converted.
- Converting Bleda will not defeat, nor turn his remaining Huns to the player's side, but manually deleting Bleda after converting him can trigger them to do so.
- Attila and Bleda are classified as Infantry despite being mounted, enabling them to garrison Rams. They also receive no multiplied damage from anti-cavalry units like Spearmen and Camel Riders.
- Despite being advertised as carrying 700 food, it's not actually possible for villagers to harm, hunt, or harvest the Iron Boar in any way. Only military units may damage and kill it.
Historical comparison
- The map is loosely based on Eastern Europe, the main river being a mashup of the Dnieper (north-south flow, near the Scythians homeland), and the Danube (frontier between Romans and Huns).
- In addition, the 'island' occupied by the Persians resembles northern Anatolia, with the Aegean Sea west and the Black Sea north, and their small overseas colony near the Huns mirrors the Crimean port cities that were ruled from Anatolia. However, both Anatolia and Crimea were ruled by the East Roman Empire, while Persia was further east. The shallows that connect Persian and Roman territory correspond to the Bosphorus straits, where the East Roman capital, Constantinople, was.
- The scenario begins with Bleda's death (or Attila's flight, alternatively), which happened around 445 A.D. In reality, Attila and Bleda invaded Persia and the Roman Balkans while they ruled together, in 435-440 and 440-445 A.D. respectively. The Huns were defeated by the Persians, then turned their attention to the Romans.
- The death of Bleda during a hunting trip is based on Gothic historian Jordanes's claim that Attila killed him during one.
- The destroyed Roman camp on the Hunnic side of the river is likely a reference to a market established north of the Danube to facilitate trade between Romans and Huns according to the Treaty of Margus (now Pozarevac, Serbia), in 435 A.D. This was destroyed by the Huns in 440 A.D., after they accused the bishop of Margus of ransacking the Hunnic royal graves nearby.
- The Roman base is likely Margus itself, which was destroyed at the beginning of the Hunnic invasion of the Balkans. However, this city was part of the Eastern Roman Empire, not Western as shown in the original version of this scenario. In fact, the Huns had good relations with the West in this time.
- Instead of rescuing Hunnic prisoners from the Romans, the Huns demanded that the Romans handed over some tribes who had defected because of their opposition to Attila and Bleda. Two of the tribes leaders were then crucified for converting to Christianity.
- The presence of "Scythians" may seem anachronistic as archaeologists consider that the Ancient Scythians assimilated into the Sarmatians by the 2nd century A.D. However, the Romans continued to use the name Scythians for peoples in the Ukrainian and Romanian steppes, even after the Huns conquered the Sarmatians in the 4th and 5th centuries. Alternatively, the name "Scythian Peoples" is used as a general term for ancient Eurasian steppe peoples, including the Sarmatians and the Ancient Scythians (called Pontic or Western Scythians instead).
- The Scythian chief Leipoxais is named after a mythical Scythian chief mentioned by Herodotus.
- The outro mentions young Flavius Aetius living as a hostage of the Huns under Attila. In reality, this happened much earlier, under the reign of Uldin in 410 A.D., and Aetius returned home some ten years before Attila and Bleda ruled.