Tours

Tours
Scenario information
Game	The Conquerors
Campaign	Battles of the Conquerors
Civilization	Franks
Color	Red
Scenario no.	1
Previous	N/A
Next	Vinlandsaga

Tours is a scenario in the Battles of the Conquerors campaign in Age of Empires II: 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.

Intro

It is impossible to imagine the world ending on such a fine fall day. Yet the storm of Muslim horsemen continues to rage throughout Europe, leaving conquered cities and shattered armies stunned in its wake. The lightning-quick strikes of the Muslim horsemen break the city of Bordeaux and then Poitiers, leaving precious little of the Frankish Kingdom to defend.

Yet Charles Martel gathers the disheartened Frankish army for one last stand at the city of Tours.

Arabic horses, bred for speed and beauty, begin to splash across the Vienne River. Martel's knights and swordsmen, trudging under the weight of iron mail, struggle to interpose themselves between the Muslims and the city of Tours.

Carrion birds circle the air, anticipating the savagery to come. The rest of Europe watches anxiously, for this is the climax of the Muslim invasion and the last stand of Christian Europe.

It is impossible to imagine the world ending on such a fine fall day. Yet the storm of Moslem horses continues to rage throughout Europe, leaving conquered cities and shattered armies stunned in its wake. The lightning-quick strikes of the Moslem horses break the city of Bordeaux, and then Poitiers, leaving precious little of the Frankish kingdom to defend.

Yet Charles Martel gathers the disheartened Frankish army for one last stand at the city of Tours.

Moslem horses, bred for speed and beauty, begin to splash across the Vienne River. Martel's knights and swordsmen, trudging under the weight of iron mail, struggle to interpose themselves between the Moslems and the city of Tours.

Carrion birds circle in the air, anticipating the savagery to come. The rest of Europe watches anxiously, for this is the climax of the Moslem invasion and the last stand of Christian Europe.

Scenario Instructions

Starting Conditions

• Starting age: Feudal Age
• Starting resources: 300 wood, 200 food, 500 gold, 600 stone
• Population limit: 75 (125 in the Definitive Edition)
• Starting units:
  • Charles Martel
  • 7  Villagers
  • 11  Throwing Axemen
  • 16  Knights
• Gaia units:
  • 6  Trade Carts

Differences between difficulty levels

• On Standard difficulty, a Castle guards the southwest gate of Tours, and the player begins with Murder Holes researched.
• On Hard, the Berbers start with additional Light Cavalry and Villagers, and the 'cemetery island' on Charles Martel's path to Tours is guarded by Moorish Watch Towers and Camel Riders.

Objectives

• Prevent the Muslims 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

• Since part of the Muslim baggage train has been lost, you will now need to defeat the Muslims.

Hints

1. The Franks are restricted to a population limit of 125.
2. The Berbers and Moors utilize inexpensive troops in combat. While Frankish Knights can defeat them, the Muslims spend fewer of their resources fielding armies.
3. You can click on signs for directions.
4. The Muslims are attacking outlying Frankish Farms. This will slow them down while you send for Charles Martel's army and build up your defenses.

Scouts

Your scouts report:

• The Franks (1, Red) defend the large city of Tours to the north. Charles Martel's army is to south of the city.
• The Berbers (2, 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 (3, 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

Enemies

• 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 Rams. In the Definitive Edition, they will advance to the Imperial Age and attack with Capped Rams, Light Cavalry, Two-Handed Swordsmen, and Genitours.
• Moors (Saracens) is occupying Poitiers, 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

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

Researching Spies before the Trade Carts are captured will cause the "Since part of the Muslim baggage train has been lost, you will now need to defeat the Muslims" 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.

Outro

The soul of the Frankish army was its knights, but Charles Martel knew that his cavalry-undisciplined, buried under weight of weapons and armor-could not match the swiftness of the Muslim riders. Therefore, he ordered the knights to dismount and join ranks with the Frankish swordsmen to form a tight shield-wall.

The Muslims had always conquered with swift offensiveness and were not equipped to counter the Franks' defensive strategy. The arrows of the Muslim archers bounced harmlessly off the heavy Frankish armor, and the light Muslim cavalry could not breach the human chain.

Battered and bleeding, the invaders broke ranks and fled back to the Pyrenees and the protection of Spain. From Charles Martel's Frankish kingdom eventually grew the Holy Roman Empire, making him the founding father of both Germany and France.

The soul of the Frankish army was its knights, but Charles Martel knew that his cavalry -- undisciplined, buried under weight of weapons and armor -- could not match the swiftness of the Moslem riders. Therefore, he ordered the knights to dismount and join ranks with the Frankish swordsmen to form a tight shield wall.

The Moslems had always conquered with swift offensiveness and were not equipped to counter the Franks' defensive strategy. The arrows of the Moslem archers bounced harmlessly off the heavy Frankish armor, and the light Moslem cavalry could not breach the human chain.

Battered and bleeding, the Moslems broke ranks and fled back to the Pyrenees and the protection of Spain. From Charles Martel's Frankish kingdom eventually grew the Holy Roman Empire, making him the founding father of both Germany and France.

Trivia

• 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 Mayor of the Palace 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, where they defeated the Umayyad forces and killed 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.
• In the Definitive Edition, Abd ar-Rahman al-Ghafiqi appears as a Genitour hero unit in the Berber camp like he does in Crossing the Pyrenees.
• The first illustration in the Definitive Edition version of the opening cutscene is used to represent the Lithuanians in the History section.
• While the scenario depicts the Muslim forces besieging the city of Tours and the Franks responding with an attack on occupied Poitiers, the actual battle took place in the open on a hill somewhere between the two cities, the exact location of which is still unknown.