Tours is a campaign scenario in the Battles of the Conquerors. The Franks, led by Charles Martel, must defend their homeland from the Arab invasion of 732. This scenario is based on the Battle of Tours.
Scenario Instructions 
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Starting Conditions Edit
- Starting age: Feudal Age
- Starting resources: 300 wood, 200 food, 500 gold, 600 stone
- Population limit: 75
- Starting units:
- Charles Martel
- 7 Villagers
- 11 Throwing Axemen
- 16 Knights
- Gaia units:
- 6 Trade Carts
- 6
Objectives Edit
- Prevent the Moslems from destroying any of your 3 Town Centers.
- Capture the 6 Trade Carts in the Moors' baggage train and bring them to the Cathedral in Tours.
Later Objectives Edit
- Since part of the Moslem baggage train has been lost, you will now need to defeat the Moslems.
Hints Edit
- 1. The Moslems are attacking outlying Frankish farms. This will slow them down while you send for Charles Martel's army and build up your defenses.
- 2. The Berbers and Moors utilize inexpensive troops in combat. While Frankish Knights can defeat them, the Moslems spend fewer of their resources fielding armies.
- 3. You can click on signs for directions. domesticate horses….
Scouts Edit
- Your scouts report: The Franks (red) defend the large city of Tours to the north. Charles Martel's army is to south of the city.
- There are two armies of Moslems; the Berbers (yellow) occupy the western edge of the map. They train Light Cavalry, swordsmen, and rams, but their town is not well-defended and could fall to an early attack.
- The Moors (green) have occupied the city of Poitiers to the southwest, making their army harder to defeat. They train Camels, Knights, and Scorpions, but will switch to Mamelukes given enough time.
Players Edit
Enemies Edit
- Berbers (Turks, Berbers in the Definitive Edition) is at the southwestern part of the map, being the weaker enemy. They frequently attack with light cavalry and sometimes with Battering Ram.
- Moors (Saracens) is occupying Pontiers, at the southern tip of the map. Being the stronger enemy, they frequently attack with Camel Riders and scorpions, occasionally with trebuchets if they have reached the Imperial Age. If given enough time, they would begin attacking with Mamelukes as well.
Strategy Edit
You face two enemies in this scenario: The Berbers (Turks/Berbers in the Definitive Edition, yellow) and the Moors (Saracens, green).
The Berbers' base.
In the north lies Tours, a city you own, with a handful of villagers, lots of buildings (a few Guard Towers and a Castle for defense (only on Standard/Easy difficulty), also with many Gold and Stone mines for a stable economy), yet no army. The army, consisting of 16 Knights, 11 Throwing Axemen and the hero Charles Martel, is at the south of the map, not too far from the now-Moor-controlled city (Poitiers). To create a stable economy, you might need to create a handful of villagers, build many farms around your three town centers, gather from your mines and assign lumberjacks to the forest.
There are two ways you can continue the campaign from there, with your forces, it's possible to break through the wall, sneak in, and steal the Trade Carts that will grant you victory. But this plan has a lot of flaws. Aside from being a major risk, Poitiers is heavily defended and you are not armed with any siege weapons, and you might lose many of your forces trying to break in. If you lose a single Trade Cart, you will have to defeat all enemy forces, so you should take good care of them.
The city of Poitiers under Saracen control, as it appeared in the scenario.
A second, risk-free, safer way is to send your army back to Tours, advance to Imperial Age as you have many resources, build a few castles for defenses, make a large army balanced with siege weapons (especially Trebuchets), Halberdiers, Knights and Gunpowder Units, as well as preparing with researching important Blacksmith and University technologies as needed. When you are ready, attack the Berbers, and then with your siege weapons, attack the walls of Poitiers, its castle and military buildings, and go into the base. As you gain control of the carts, send them back to the cathedral. It's worth noting that, unlike other scenarios and campaigns in the game, your hero (Charles Martel) does not need to survive, so it's not a major risk if he joins the forces to attack.
The Cathedral in Tours
If you lose the Trade Carts, you will need to fight the enemy forces until defeat. Since they rely heavily on Infantry, Camel Riders and Mamelukes, sending in Knights will be costly, so you should rely on infantry (particularly the Franks' unique unit, Throwing Axemen) and if you do not have enough gold, training some halberdiers will prove very useful against the enemy, as their forces consist mainly of cavalry, which easily can fall against Halberdiers.
Bugs Edit
Researching Spies before the Trade Carts are captured will cause the "Since part of the Moslem baggage train has been lost, you will now need to defeat the Moslems" objective to appear, despite no Trade Carts being lost and you will have to defeat the two enemies to win the game. Using the "marco" then "polo" cheats will also cause this bug. It is fixed in the HD Edition.
Trivia Edit
- This battle in 732 AD is directly connected from the last stage of the Tariq ibn Ziyad campaign in The African Kingdoms expansion: Razzia, which depicts the Battle of the River Garonne. In the battle, Abdul Rahman al-Ghafiqi raided Bordeaux and defeated an Aquitainian army under Odo of Aquitaine; with the Umayyads defeating Odo's forces. Odo, fearing for his fiefdom in Aquitaine reached out to the king of the Frankish kingdoms, Charles Martel, which is starts off this scenario. In historical context, Charles Martel accepted Odo's submission and let him join his army in Tours, which defeated the Umayyad forces and killing al-Ghafiqi
- The Berbers on this scenario are represented by the color Yellow, which probably explains why the player uses same color in the Tariq ibn Ziyad campaign
- Since the Berbers are not included until The African Kingdoms, they were represented by the Turks, whom they share the same architectural style with.
- This is corrected in Definitive Edition, where they are properly represented by the Berbers.
- After Update 34055, the Berbers can now advance to the Imperial age.
