Langrisser II/The Blue Dragon Knights Again

Winning condition: -Death of Leon -Elwin reaches the gates of Bernhart's castle Losing condition: -Death of Elwin Items: War hammer, Great Sword, Wand, Longbow, Chain mail, Plate Armor, Cross, Necklace, Orb. Heroes: Elwin, Hain, Scott, Sherry, Aaron, Keith, Lester, Jessica. Enemies: Gate defender: Leon Royal Guard L4 Great Sword, Plate Armor Royal Horseman x4, Ballista x2  Moat defender: Imperial General Saint L3 Phalanx x4, Berserker x2

Turret artillery: ( Imperial General Archmage L1 Phalanx x2, Ballista x4 ) x2

Offensive forces: Laird Silver Knight L6 War hammer, Chain mail Armored Soldier x2, Heavy Horseman x4

Imperial General Knight Master L1 Berserker x2, Heavy Horseman x4   Imperial General Dragon Lord L1 Griffin x6 (attacks turn 3)

Dark forces (Reinforcements, arrive on turn 8 from the north): ( Ghost L5 Wraith x4 ) x2   Larna Dark Princess L1 Dark Elf x2, Elemental x4 Leon and Larna will hang back and defend, but they will shoot anything that comes within they range. If you ever attack them, or if you've killed all the imperials, they will come out and attack you. (Note that 'imperials' here does not include ghosts)

This castle is built for a tenacious defense, with unscalable walls and a narrow bridge across the moat that can be easily pounded into the ground by falling meteors. The best way to deal with this defense is to force it to turn into an offense. Don't attack it, let the imperials come out to you.

Put ranged attackers and mages on the flanks, with your fighters in the center. Bombard the archmages and ballistae in the towers (don't you love always going first?) with your own magic and ballistae. Make sure that both mages are knocked down to 7 HP or lower at the end of every round so they're too busy healing themselves to retaliate. Use protection on your artillery before you send it to attack.

Meanwhile, have the fighters hang back, ready to cast support or healing magic on your other characters. The knights will eventually sally forth to meet you, as will the ghosts that Larna brings with her. Let them. It's a lot easier to fight them on clear terrain, where you can maneuver, and where the imperials will have their own maneuvering impaired by their own moat. Cut them down as they emerge, while your other characters finish off the archmages. The last character you'll have to kill before taking on the tough stuff is the saint guarding the bridge. Because she has no real offensive magic, use this time to heal and prepare your formation for the true challenge. You might want to have a flier move just out of range of the ballistae so that Larna wastes all her MP trying to meteor him/her - it makes the coming battle a bit easier.

Protect your phalanxes in this scenario - you'll need every one against Leon. He and Larna attack as soon as the last Imperial General falls. Put phalanxes in front, and do anything - attack, protection - to increase their stats. You do not want Leon breaking through and hitting your (relatively) fragile commanders. Pound Leon with magic, then attack with your powered up phalanxes, and hope it's enough. Trying to get Larna too is risky, and not particularly worth it. If you must, (like me =P) take out Leon's horsemen and then use spells to knock him down to 7 each turn - like you did with the archmages - while you send your dragon lord and maybe someone else to defeat Larna's elementals. They are not weak against archers, so the dragon's breath is really the only way of dealing with them that doesn't result in your losing a lot of troops, unless you bought monks. Since your troops are probably somewhat battered by this point, that's important.

If you still do not have a 4th level character with phalanxes, then you should probably just go for the gate. I think it has to be Elwin, even though the objectives don't specify, because I tried doing it with my dragon lord and it didn't work. Use low level troops to distract Leon, or have lots of units surround Elwin while he makes a break for it. Boots of speed help. Have other characters take out the ballistae and dark elves. Use magic to keep Leon too busy healing to attack. Heck, try anything you want - without that fourth class level, it'll be tough regardless.