Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon/Chapter 8

Coastal Skirmish "The League had reached Akaneian soil, so Marth gave him leave to recuperate in Port Warren, a harbor town known for commerce. Coin alone kept the town free they paid Doluna dearly in taxes to preserve their autonomy. Naturally, then, theirs was a warm welcome when the Akaneian League arrived. Marth's soldiers were glad to rest there, nestled between mountain and sea but their joy was spoiled by news that the enemy was fast approaching- as harsh an awakening as a rock beneath the pillow."

Preparation
This battle will be easy if you keep your low defence characters away. The enemy is bunched up in masses and their reinforcements are hard to quell all at once. Good archers like Gordin and Wolf are invaluable here, along with sturdy cavaliers. Using a knight like Draug as a blockade isn't a bad idea either.

Note that you will get another knight on this map. You will also start with two more units from the start, a myridon and a mercenary.

Begin
First of all, the two new units you get (Caesar and Radd) are pretty useless for this late in the game. Their only use in this battle is to browse the shops/armory and bring the valuable items to trade to the units. This battle has many valuable weapons that you WILL want to buy.

The Rapier and Wing Spear are a one-time deal, you can only buy one from these shops. They are good to get along with a decent amount of steel weapons. Silver weapons are costly and you should avoid them since you will get many in drops from enemies.

On the first turn, advance your units carefully. Make sure Shiida is relatively in the front, she is needed to recruit the knight, Roger. On the second turn, only move your units forward a bit. Let the enemies come and fight you. Next turn, you will be just the right distance to recruit Roger.

You have a choice now. You can either clear the right side first or the left side first. The right side has more enemies. The left side is a good way to do something while getting your troops over.

Eventually, you will want to invade the right side (good exp). A good way to do this is to place a knight at the right house. The archers will crowd around trying to do damage, but your defence should make it do none. The horsemen will then proceed to rush forward.

Eliminate ALL the horsemen in one turn. Don't give them the chance to work with the archers to pose any unforeseen danger. If you have chose to do the left path before the right path, there are three things to note:


 * 1) Two cavaliers and one horsemen appear at the fort at Turn 10. This happens for three turns. Be prepared, or you risk a SERIOUS danger to your troops.
 * 2) A few more rounds of reinforcements appear at a much later time.
 * 3) You can use an archer like Gordin to sit at the mountain dividing the two sides. This will lure the two archers to their death.

If you chose to do the right side first, then the reinforcements will come shortly after you trigger enemy movement on the left side. There are also two sets of knights that spawn at roughly Turn 17 (assuming you took the right path first then the left path).

They make for good exp for Shiida and Merric. They are only triggered if you step in the proximity of the forts.

Now, for the relatively easy part. Boss time. Note that if you had tried to rush the boss first, reinforcements spawn automatically. Also note that reinforcements pop up when you attack him. They are limited, but to stop them the easy way, defeat the boss fast. Speaking of boss...

Seize the gate and let's continue. As always, dialogue...

Save the game and let's go.