Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings/An Unlikely Messiah

The Franco-English war has lasted for almost one hundred years. The English kings claim rights to the French thrones, and they have conquered the French territory city by citty with their allies in Burgundy. The heir to the French monarchy is too cowardly to ascend to the throne. The French army is wounded and tired and has given up all hope. But in the darkest hour, a young peasant girl, Joan of Arc, declares that she intends to save France. She said she had a vision from God to save her homeland from English domination.

Historical note: Depending on who you would ask, you would get a different position on who or what France really was. Indeed, this was the reason for the Hundred Years' War, and "England", "France", and "Burgundy" were just factions in a civil war.

Joan of Arc 1: An Unlikely Messiah
This scenario is pretty straightforward. The main point is that you have almost no way of healing any damage until you reach Chinon, but by then it won't matter. Therefore, you need to avoid all combat, unless you have no choice, and even then, you need to avoid combat. Unfortunately, depending on the difficulty setting and how aggressive the enemy units are, combat will be forced upon you from time to time. An AoE expert will note that infantry can be healed inside an ally's Tower. The Tower near your starting location may be critical to your survival.

Joan is one of your best scouts, because she has the best sight range. She should be your primary scout. Many special events occur in response to her proximity.

As the scenario starts, you recruit two knights. Many special events occur in response to their proximity (window dressing, mostly), so they should be walking around right behind Joan. Try using the "follow" order. They are also your fastest units, so scout with them as appropriate. As Joan walks around inside the French camp, you recruit 4 archers and 4 men-at-arms.

Your first hostile encounter is with two dire wolves. They are not very dire, because they do very little damage per hit. You could sneak by them, or you could waste them. You could even lure them into the French camp and get your allies to deal with them. This early in the scenario, healing is relatively easy, so you may as well have some fun with them.

Your next encounter is a battle between the British and the forces of France. Just sit back and watch it. Even if you could enter the battle, which is almost impossible until it's over, the only way the British could hurt you is via collateral damage (check the diplomacy screen). After the battle, the British disappear. Feel free to hack down a catapult or something afterwards; it's perfectly safe.

A bit further along the path, you encounter a damaged bridge. Head along the path, and you run into some bandits. Head along the coast, and you run into an enemy warship. You can get your company through between them. Then you reach a big group of deer. This is a safe resting area.

When you try to head along the coast again, you are blocked by an enemy town, including Towers. As you skirt the town, you find that you can just sneak by between the town and the bandits. However, you should probably kill the bandits. You have no idea what lies up ahead, and it is prudent to have the route behind you clear, in case you have to flee back through this area. Use standard damage avoidance techniques, and then go back home for healing. (Then let the game run while you have a coffee or something until your force is back at full strength.) Your knights should sit this one out.

After some R&R, you head out again. This time, you try the path to the right from the bandit camp. You find and kill some wolves, and then you run into another bandit camp. So you go back to the first bandit camp and take the left path again. As you skirt the enemy town, its defenses force you into the sight range of a bandit light cavalry unit. This unit is actually dangerous, and there is no way to avoid it. After killing it, you will need some major healing, so you may as well clear out the rest of the second bandit camp.

After your second round of R&R, you continue down the path and cross the bridge to reach a French town. Here you recruit a battering ram and a bunch of infantry. What do we use Pikemen for?

You find that you have no choice left but to go right through the Burgundian town in the middle of the map. You should go in through the wall where neither Tower can hit you. Note that a wall section is weaker than a gate, although less melee units can attack it at a given time. As your battering ram beats on the wall, some number of enemy units will rush out and beat on your battering ram. A priori, you don't know whether that number depends on exactly where you attack, but you do know whether a Tower will or will not attack you, so you choose to avoid the Towers.

Before the ram goes in, however, attack the target wall section with a mobile unit to provoke the defense reaction. Kill the responding units, and heal your damage again.

After you pass through the Burgundian town and cross the river, you reach another French town, but this one is occupied by enemy soldiers. Moving along the path, you encounter some light cavalry, so you go along the river bank instead. As Joan sneaks in there, she recruits three Transport Ships. There is no need to engage the large enemy force. The transports cannot carry your whole force at once.

The northernmost landing point on the Chinon side of the Loire River is safe, and from there, you are home free. You could continue down the river, but remember that there is an enemy warship there. You could wander around the SW area of the map if you really want to. There you would encounter some enemy soldiers, one last bandit camp, and some more recruits.

Joan of Arc 2: The Maid of Orleans
This scenario is straightforward and reasonably easy. Note that you are restricted to the Castle Age in this scenario. That means that you will need battering rams.

Your first task is to get your initial force to Blois. Just head over there, with the scout in the lead. You do run into some Burgundian rabble on the way, but not enough that you need to avoid them. Just kill them off, although you will need to head back to the monk near Chinon for healing.

In Blois, you recruit a large force. Unfortunately, all of these units are obsolete as soon as you get them, for several reasons. You will be working with these obsolete units for a long time, so offensive operations will be out of the question. Your swordsmen are also basically useless. Your next task is to get everyone to Orleans. There are two basic approaches to this. First, try to run directly to Orleans, and if it starts to look unreasonable, you will need to look for a roundabout route.

As your scout heads off down the road, he starts to run into opposition. The first knight or so are easy to deal with. The monks would ordinarily be problems, but you have a powerful anti-monk weapon. Joan of Arc is on a divine mission, and cannot be converted by some heretical proselytiser. Pretty soon, you find that you are blocked by a large force, plus a Tower. If you divert to the right, you run into two fortified positions. When you divert to the left, you recruit some Transport Ships. Use them to get everyone across the river. You may as well leave the swordsmen in Blois, because they have no real use.

When your first unit approaches Orleans, you get control of the whole city, except the gates. There are ten Towers in Orleans. They are immediately obsolete, albeit very powerful. You will not have the resources to replace them, so you need to work with them as is. You also get three villagers. Collect wood with them for now. When the supplies reach Orleans, you can start a major construction program. With the food allocation, produce a couple more villagers and one scout, and go to the Castle Age right away, because you need monks and castles. Produce a lot more archers right away, and put, say, two in each Tower. (The AoE expert will note with some irritation that your Tower garrison firepower goes down as you upgrade your force. Rearrange your recruited and produced archers to mitigate this.) Two scouts are plenty for this scenario. When more food becomes available, you should quickly work up to about 20 villagers. This may seem like a rather small number, but you will need a lot of ground troops to defend your long perimeter. You also can't enter the Imperial Age, so a lot of expensive research will not be needed.

Very soon, all your enemies will be attacking you viciously, with every type of unit at their disposal, albeit only Castle Age units. You will need a lot of stonework, and this will deal with most of the enemy attacks, except their battering rams. Accordingly, you will need to sally forth frequently, and for this, you will need the heaviest cavalry you can get. Heavy cavalry is also the only reasonable way to deal with the powerful British archers. However, it is vulnerable to monks and spearmen, which the enemy also uses in large numbers.

One question you need to deal with right away is whether you want to protect your dock. It is not important by any means. Right now, it is totally exposed, and it will always be somewhat exposed because it is separated from your main bastion by the river. For an additional challenge, we choose to protect the dock. Note that there is also an important gold deposit in that area. Produce a small fleet to help protect your dock. These ships will have a restricted area of operations, but they will have a powerful influence over some of the most important parts of the map. In fact, by themselves, they might be able to at least cripple all the South British and Burgundian attempts to cross the river.

Rapidly explore as much of the map as you can. Use all assets at your disposal, not just the scouts. You will not be able to explore the north corner or the east quarter of the map at this time. You will find a bunch of free farms west of Orleans. Plan on actually using them; they will need to be walled off. You will find two stone and three gold deposits. Due to the amount of stonework you already have and to your cheap castles, the available stone should be adequate. As always, the gold is more than you will need, and you will never run out of food and wood. First priority for new stonework is a castle and a partial wall north of your farms, then a wall at the north end of the bridge to seal off the west of the map. If you seal off the west part of the map completely, then the enemy battering rams will simply take out the nearest wall they find, and you won't be able to do anything about it, because they will be protected by pikemen and other troops. You need to leave a hole somewhere, preferably in the back, so that you have plenty of time to shoot up their force as it marches toward the hole. Second priority for new stonework is the south area of the map. Be aware of the fact that your allies are also allied to your enemies when you design your wall in the south. When building walls in the west, be aware of hidden paths through the woods. When building walls in the south, be aware that certain trees block wall construction but allow units to walk past them.

Your second castle should be in the south. Your third castle should be at the north end of the bridge. When the third castle is built, about half of the Orleans perimeter is now safe, so you can disband many of your foot archers. As food and gold start to roll in, replace your obsolete knights with new production. Get some cavalry archers, and 5 battering rams as well. When your force is fully upgraded, and your population at maximum, you are ready for some serious offensive action.

In the meantime, Joan of Arc should have been raiding the British monastery at the south end of the bridge. She can keep killing their monks with impunity, which is a big drain on their gold. When you have several rams available, put them in a Transport Ship and land them at the south end of the bridge to take out the Burgundian Tower and the monastery. At some point, the British will start to chop wood in the area, and you know what to do with unprotected enemy villagers.

When you are ready to go on the offensive, there are three main plans available. The most conservative one is to claim the stone and gold deposits NE of Orleans. You hardly need the gold, but the stone is useful. Of course, much of that stone will be needed for defenses in that area, but there should be enough left over for at least one more castle and a bunch of walls. The second plan is to locate and destroy Burgundy. They have lots of spearmen, but hardly anything else. You could build a second dock and some Transport Ships to help in the conquest of Burgundy. The most ambitious plan is to go for the immediate win. You should be totally dominating the map by now, and if you put your entire force against one enemy, you will easily succeed. The weakest enemies are the South British, because they tend to send their villagers out of their bases pretty soon, and you may already have crippled their economy. It is not trivial to attack a castle with only battering rams, so you may want to take the assault in stages, withdrawing and fixing damage after each stage. However, 5 battering rams will always beat a castle, as long as there are no defending melee troops to beat up your rams.

Joan of Arc 3: The Cleansing of the Loire
Note that you are restricted to the Castle Age in this scenario. To win, you will need to assault several castles. These two facts already define to a large extent how the scenario must play out. The only realistic way to attack castles in the Castle Age is with battering rams, and experience tells us that 5 is the optimum number. Less than that, and the attack might fail, but you don't want them to take up too many spots in the population roster. Furthermore, if you plan to recruit over the population limit, then you can't afford to lose any rams, which means that you have to defeat the enemy's mobile force, at least locally, before attacking a castle.

Move the scout towards the flag. You will acquire some Transport Ships. Use them to cross the Loire River, and then move your units to the east, as per the scenario instructions. At the edge of the map, you find some gold and stone, and if you do it properly, 14 sheep. Trees are everywhere, of course. Set up your base there. At this point, you will have explored about 20% of the map.

Take out the two Burgundian Towers in your base area. This can be done without sustaining any damage by dodging the Tower arrows, but if you use only infantry, then any damage can be healed, even before you get monks. Your base area has four natural entry points. Seal them with a gate each immediately, and add a Tower each as soon as you can. You should be safe behind stone walls well before the first attack arrives.

Keep scouting. You should be able to explore the entire map, with the exception of the vicinity of the main British base, the three British fortified outposts, John Fastolf's territory in the NE corner, and the Burgundian base.

You will have noticed that the British have warships wandering around, so your next priority should probably be a fleet. This is primarily a land map, so you don't really want more than 5 War Galleys. Use your fleet to defend your dock area.

As soon as you have monks and cavalry archers available, start raiding Burgundy.

There is a British dock on the Loire River. Destroy this dock as soon as practicable. The British do not rebuild this dock, not that they really could if they wanted to. They do replace it with another dock further inland. After that, their new production warships come wandering down the tributary one by one, and if they get by your main base, what's left of them gets chopped by your fleet. Destroying the British dock on the Loire River gives you complete control of the Loire River. This allows you to fish and transport troops on the river in complete safety.

It is now time to take out Burgundy. You don't have to do this to win the scenario, but if the fact that they are weak is not sufficient reason, then consider the fact that they are consuming resources that would be better used for the glory of France. Burgundy doesn't have much in the way of defenses, only some Towers and some troops. A handful of heavy cavalry and a handful of cavalry archers is all you will need to defeat Burgundy. Of course, you will need to run back to your base for healing from time to time. This is one reason why it is so important to have free rein on the Loire.

While you're heavily engaged with Burgundy, you should build a fortified position, including a castle, on the left side of the map. For one thing, there are important resources over there that you should exploit. For another, having a base over there will allow you to operate more effectively, and its influence actually is felt over the entire map.

After Burgundy is out of the picture, you have to decide what to do about Fastolf's army. If you mostly avoid them, they may not bother you too much, and if they do attack you, they will always be biting on stone. Fastolf's army uses heavy cavalry and maybe some siege equipment, but no heavy artillery. They can't really hurt you. The only question is whether they can interfere with your attacks on the British bases.

For the sake of argument, let's say you decide to take out Fastolf before the bases. It turns out that this is actually very hard. For one thing, his heavy cavalry is better than yours. What can you do about this? Say it: M - O - N - K. That stands for raid - retreat - possess - heal. Repeat as many times as necessary. Eventually, and that means after a long, long time, and having defeated hordes and hordes of enemy units, literally as many as a thousand, considering all enemies, Fastolf runs out of gold, and then you can crush him.

With Fastolf out of the picture, you can take your force of battering rams that has been waiting patiently for the chance against one British castle at a time. Make sure that you have a lot of supporting units, because you don't want to lose any rams, and the British are probably still producing units. Of course, if you can wreck their economy, you should probably do so. Each of the British fortified outposts produces one type of unit in addition to Longbowmen. One produces cavalry, one produces infantry, and one produces siege weapons. The main base produces several types of units. Take this into account in your attack plan.

The best way to attack one of the British castles is to build a small wall compartment onto the outside of the British wall. Then move your assault group into the compartment. This protects them from counterattack. Then breach the enemy wall and rush the castle.

One surprising aspect of playing the scenario as described here is that, after you have wiped out all of Fastolf's army and start to attack a British castle, John Fastolf himself teleports in with a few units and attacks you. By this time, you will be so powerful that this surprise attack is not a problem. The only problem you will have is whether you will be able to convince him to join your side before he commits suicide.

Joan of Arc 4
Scenario 4 begins at the east end of a road. Your initial destination is a village at the end of this road. A mid-sized force of British troops waits for you along the way. If you attempt to circumvent these troops, they'll await you in the village. The soldiers will stand amongst your future Villagers and slay them upon your arrival. Proceed down the road and engage the British. You'll take losses, but you'll survive.

When you arrive in town, you'll get a handful of Villagers and a meager amount of resources. Immediately collect the Sheep west of town, or the enemies will snatch them up. Enemy troops will attack from a river crossing to the north and another crossing near the former British camp. Don't allow your troops to cross the river; this instigates a large attack for which you're unprepared.

At this point, the goal is to reach the Imperial Age and have fully upgraded units at your disposal. It's time to build your Blacksmith. When the resources are available, build a Monastery and train a few Monks.

When you have a large army at your command, cross the river north of your town. Chalon is your first target. The Town Center lies just north of the crossing and it's easy to destroy. After wiping out Chalon, build a defensive base on its former site.

Rheims will send a lot of troops to harass you. Without these defenses you'd soon find yourself without an army to command. Build several Stables, a Castle, a Monastery, and plenty of defensive Towers. Use Trebuchets to take out the surrounding Towers.

Next concentrate on killing Troyes. A large group of Paladins will take down this Town Center without delay. Rheims has many Longbowmen and Onagers. Use a constant onslaught of Paladins to keep them at bay.

Joan of Arc 5
Start by grouping your units by type and assigning them hotkeys; for example, assign your Bombard Cannons and Jeanne de Lorraine to [1]. Set your diplomacy with the British to Neutral. This will keep enemy buildings from distracting your units from enemy troops. To destroy a building, select the units you wish to use and then right-click on the building. Use Trebuchets as Scouts, implementing their extremely long sight range. With a Trebuchet, you can uncover any enemy unit without activating it.

After these preparations, you're ready to save the Villagers and liberate Paris. Follow the west edge of the map until you encounter a few Towers and a Castle. Paris's western gate lies northeast. Destroy the Towers and Castle to give yourself breathing room.

Head south to the gold. This activates your reinforcements to the east and British Elite Longbowmen will ambush them immediately. Send your Knights to their aid, followed by the rest of your troops. Use your Cannons to make a hole in the wall next to the gold and leave Paris.

Travel north to the road and follow it south to the fork. Group Joan with the Villagers and save your game. It's very difficult to get Joan and the Villagers through. Engage the Burgundians with your remaining troops. Use Cavalry units to kill all ranged units. Run Joan and the Villagers to the square to end the scenario.

Joan of Arc 6
You begin with Guy Josselyn, your narrator, and the Trade Cart holding the French flag. The Trade Cart must survive to plant the French flag on the hill in Castillion. Head southeast and activate the French army awaiting you. Now activate the French cannon troops across the river to the west. Your first goal is to kick the Burgundians out of their walled town and implement it as your economic base.

Rousted from their town, the Burgundians have set up shop to the south. They send a continuous stream of Infantry and Pikemen and are quick to rebuild. Before engaging the British, relieve yourself of this nuisance.Don't destroy the Burgundian Market. This gives you the option of building a Market in Shrewsbury's town and using Trade Carts to supplement your gold supply.

The British are fond of Scorpions and Elite Longbowmen in this scenario. Gunpowder units best for dealing with this rabble. The enemy assails your defenses without letup at the crossing before you're ready to continue. Steadily build your forces and then advance toward the hill, building defenses and military buildings along the way. Once you've arrived at the hill and are certain of the Trade Cart's safe passage, bring up the flag and claim your victory.