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This article is about the campaign. For the expansion, see Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Victors and Vanquished. |
Victors and Vanquished is the titular campaign of the Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Victors and Vanquished expansion. Like the Historical Battles campaign, and unlike other campaigns in Age of Empires II, it is a series of nineteen unrelated[note 1] scenarios which have no true order, instead all being unlocked from the start for play.
Originally released with 19 scenarios, a new scenario Xie An was added with update 141935.
Scenarios[]
| “ | Some overcame incredible odds and attained great triumphs. Others could not match the tenor of their age. Names such as Charlemagne, Oda Nobunaga, and Alexios Komnenos are remembered for their victories and achievements. Others, such as Ragnar Lothbrok, Stephen of Blois, and Constantine XI are known for difficult times and tragic falls. Relive their triumphs and tragedies to decide if you will be among the victors -- or the vanquished. | ” |
All scenarios are listed in the following table sorted by the year. The table also shows the civilization, color, difficulty, and the historical event(s) they are based on.
| Scenario | D | Y | Civilization | Color | Historical event |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Xie An
|
|
383 |  Chinese
|
Yellow | The Battle of the Fei River from the perspective of the Xie clan. |
 Gaiseric
|
|
406 |  Goths
|
Blue | Migration of the Vandals from the Rhine to Carthage |
 Vortigern
|
|
440 |  Britons
|
Red | Reign of the Romano-Briton king Vortigern and his role in the Germanic (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes) migrations and takeover of England |
 Charlemagne
|
|
768 |  Franks
|
Blue | Ascension and reign of Charlemagne as the Frankish king and his instatement as the first Holy Roman Emperor - HRE started in 800, this scenario takes place in 768 |
 Ragnar
|
|
850 |  Vikings
|
Red | Retelling of various Norse sagas and poetic eddas related to the life and adventures of Ragnar Lothbrok |
 Ironside
|
|
859 | Vikings
|
Red | The daring raids and pillaging by the Vikings under Björn Ironside and his brothers on various cities of the Mediterranean |
 Finehair
|
|
870 | Vikings
|
Blue | Reliving the sagas which tell of Harald Fairhair's conquest of Norway to unite it into a single kingdom for the first time |
 Robert
|
|
921 | Franks
|
Yellow | The struggle between Robert I of Neustria and the French king which arose from his lands being given to the Viking Rollo |
 Otto
|
|
936 |  Teutons
|
Yellow | King Otto the Great's struggles against Vikings, Magyars, Wends, Western Franks, Italy, and his own vassals, to become the Holy Roman Emperor. |
 Seljuk
|
|
985 |  Tatars
|
Blue | The journey of the Seljuk dynasty from a nomadic tribe to an empire, and the lives of its leaders Seljuk, Tughril, Alp Arslan, and Malik-Shah. |
 Karlsefni
|
|
1000 | Vikings
|
Red | The Scandinavian migration into Ireland, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, Vinland, etc. by Nordic adventurers such as Thorfinn Karlsefni, Erik the Red, Flóki, and others. |
 Komnenos
|
|
1081 |  Byzantines
|
Purple | Alexios I Komnenos taking control of the Byzantine Empire, and maintaining legitimacy by various means. |
 Stephen
|
|
1135 | Britons
|
Red | Set during The Anarchy, it portrays the seizure and securing of the English throne by Stephen of Blois |
 Temujin
|
|
1185 |  Mongols
|
Orange | Temujin's accomplishments, politicking, and warring, to rise from the leader of a small weak tribe and becoming Genghis Khan |
 Mstislav
|
|
1203 |  Slavs
|
Blue | Rus Prince Mstislav Mstislavich's early political career up until the Mongol invasion and the Battle of the Kalka River |
 Constantine XI
|
|
1453 | Byzantines
|
Blue | Fall of Constantinople from the perspective of the Eastern Roman Empire |
 Fetih
|
|
1453 |  Turks
|
Green | Fall of Constantinople from the perspective of the Ottoman Turks |
 Shimazu
|
|
1545 |  Japanese
|
Green | Rise of the powerful Shimazu Daimyo clan in Japan, and their political maneuvering, wars and conquest, and firearm trade with the Portuguese, right under the Shogun's wary nose |
 Nobunaga
|
|
1551 | Japanese
|
Variable[note 2] | Set during the Sengoku Jidai, the player can choose one of several daimyo clans and complete their unique objectives |
 Drake
|
|
1572 | Britons
|
Blue | English privateer Francis Drake's expedition of 1572–1573 to raid Spanish colonies in the Caribbean |
Count[]
- By difficulty
Easy : 4- Medium : 6
- Hard : 10
- By civilization
- By color
- Blue : 7
- Red : 5
- Green : 2
- Yellow : 3
- Purple : 1
- Orange : 1
- Variable : 1
Trivia[]
- The campaign icon is the icon for Multiplayer in the main menu of the Definitive Edition before update 42848.
- The campaign and cutscene backgrounds are the same as the one used for Historical Battles.
- Most scenarios feature a "free play" mode, where after obtaining victory, a technology must be researched (or some other action in base-less scenarios) in order to actually end the scenario. This allows the player to finish any optional objectives they may have missed or to defeat every enemy on the map.
- Unlike the scenarios of the Historical Battles, the scenarios of Victors and Vanquished are named after historical characters rather than places or events. This is similar to names of most regular campaigns.
- Like the Historical Battles, one of the scenario names is the odd one out, with Fetih (meaning "conquest") named after an event, similar to the Historical Battle Honfoglalás (which also means "conquest of the homeland").
- Several scenarios repeat the historical events told in previous campaigns and Historical Battles. Temujin repeats the story of Genghis Khan's rise in Mongolia, Karlsefni repeats the colonization of Vinland and Greenland, Ragnar includes the formation of the Great Heathen Army and invasion of York, Charlemagne encompasses the events of The Saxon Revolt within its timespan, and the Seljuk scenario features Manzikert.
- This campaign contains the most scenarios starting in the Dark Age.
