🚀 go-pugleaf

knights were just bashing at it.. but I don't see that sucker go down..!
I saw my knights going "uuggghh" when that thing started drawing first 
blood.

And after killing my knights, that Daemon went for my archers.. and all
this time the catapults and archers were engaging it!!! So after, having
the starters and the main course that damn thing decided to have catapults 
for dessert.. sh**! In the background I could occasionally hear the sound of
cast magik.. but never thought of it till my opponent sent me this dumb 
message

"Not bad for a daemon with unholy armour, huh?"

Predictably, my opponent sent 2 more daemons to mop up the operation.
---------- Cut

#   -=4-6-2=-  Mass destruction of catapults

        Sometimes you find enemy catapults all bunched up
        together in a small little area. For example, in level
        human12, there were four catapults or so surrounding
        each of the barracks. If you could only get a couple of
        clean shots through with one of your own catapults.
        Here's a tactic posted to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic
        on August 9, 1995 by Pat Traynor.

---------- Cut
I wanted to attack a group of enemy catapults. There were five of 
them huddled inside enemy walls. If I sent one of my catapults, I
could take out one of theirs, but mine would be destroyed also. So
I did this: I sent out a raider and a catapult. While still out of
range, I instructed my catapult to attack the most distant of the
enemy catapults (within that huddle). This would put it within range
of all of the others. While my catapult was advancing, I sent my 
raider ahead and kept him moving. The enemy catapults kept firing
at my raider (and of course missed because he was moving), and my
catapult took out all of the enemy ones at its leisure. The trick
was to keep my raider closer to the enemy than my catapult was.
---------- Cut

** The spell Rain of Fire works well against catapults too. Its range is
   greater than the catapult's.

#   -=4-6-3=-  Farming on the Defensive

           This was sent to me by Geoff Hudson on September
           28, 1995. An interesting idea and fun to try out
           sometime.

---------- Cut
Build an (almost) continuous wall of farms etc and only allow a small
gap through these. Put archers/catapults behind these to attack enemy
troops that try to damage your 'wall'. Leave a small gap, so you can
get out...I know this slows you down getting out of the village, but
then we really shouldn't be conducting a war this close to our own
village should we?  

A thin corridor works terrifically well!! You pepper them with arrows
as they move along the corridor, block the exit with surplus peasants
if necessary and bash the single soldier/knight that makes it to the
end with 2-3 grunts.
---------- Cut

**Might be a little expensive to repair all the damaged farms though.
  Probably more effective in a 2-player game since the computer wouldn't
  bother going down the little corridor when it can bash at the first
  couple of farms.

#   -=4-6-4=-  Offensive Roads

           Another neat little trick from Geoff Hudson.

---------- Cut
My sons tell me that if you build your road near his village,
he cannot expand across it or attack it. While I have not done
this myself, they suggest that you could encircle the enemy
village with your road and stifle any further development!!
Not really practical in most games, but it would be an amusing
trick to pull 'out of the hat'.
---------- Cut

#   -=4-7=-  Head to Head Strategy

#   -=4-7-1=-  Economics

**The names of the units used are human. Where applicable, the corresponding
orc unit is also implied.

I'm assuming here that you're starting with 2 or 3 peasants and nothing else.

The basic principle here is that you should never be waiting for wood or 
gold or for a farm to be built.  In the beginning, your townhall should 
_always_ be busy building a peasant (if you're not making roads.)  What this
means in practice is that you should be building a new farm when your
number of peasants reaches farm capacity minus one.  (Check farm capacity
by clicking on a farm.)  So, you need enough wood for a farm by the time
you've built four more peasants.  You should be able to get enough wood
to build farms to keep up with peasant production if you have roughly 1/2
of your peasants chopping wood, and the rest collecting gold or building
structures.

1) Start building a new peasant
2) Find a gold mine
3) One peasant starts harvesting gold, or if the mine is far away or you've
   taken long finding it, send two peasants to harvest gold.
4) Other peasants, if any, chop wood.
5) When a peasant has been built, use the townhall to build roads if you
   have the extra gold, surplus beyond what a peasant or a peasant plus a 
   farm costs.  Then immediately use the townhall to start on another 
   peasant.
6) The new peasant that pops out builds a farm if he was the 4th, 8th, or
   12th peasant to be made.  Otherwise, divide peasants pretty evenly
   between gold and lumber.  More on lumber if your gold mine is very close,
   more on gold if the gold mine is far.
7) Start building other structures if you have just started a farm and a
   peasant and you still have gold and lumber left over.

You probably won't ever need more than about five peasants harvesting wood.

When you've reached about 10 or 13 peasants, further peasants won't help
you all that much, so start building intensively for war.

You should have built your barracks around the time of your third farm.
When you've got a barracks, build at least one or two footmen and/or
archers to defend against harrassment attacks.

After your barracks is done, build a couple of extra farms to support
the military force you'll be putting out soon, and start on another barracks
before you do a lumbermill.  Archers are too slow to build if you have
only one barracks.  With two barracks, you should be able to deal with
most attacks just by pumping out a swarm of footmen, and putting together
a body of archers as time permits.

#   -=4-7-2=-  War

You should always (well, almost always) micro-manage military maneuvers.
Footmen and knights have the annoying habit of standing around while their
friends are being killed.  Micro-managing lets you concentrate your forces.
If you are fighting 4 footmen vs. 4 footmen, you should always have at least
three of your guys attacking one of his.  Same with archers; use groups of
four and always have them _attack the same target_.  Switch away from the
military action only once in a while to keep production going.

For defending your town, the best thing is a good force of archers.  A
single archer is worse than a single footman, but a large mass of archers
works better than a large mass of footmen.

If you'd rather emphasize production for a while, a catapult (backed up
by footmen or archers) is the best cheap defense for your town.  Catapults
wreak havoc on mass attacking forces.  (Always aim for the front attacker;
you may get lucky and hit someone behind him even if he moves.)  

Your best bet on the attack is to try to interrupt his gold flow.  Kill his
peasants, or at least stop them from reaching his mine.  This way, even if
your attack is defeated, he has lost gold production, and the next attack
(which you should get underway ASAP) may do the trick.

An interesting tactic illustrating this:

1) Build a barracks very soon, instead of going for heavy peasant+farm
   production.  You can make it your first new building as soon as you
   get one load of wood.
2) Leave just enough farm capacity for 1 footman.
3) Search for the enemy town with a peasant -- your mighty military capacity
   won't help if you can't find his town to attack it.
4) When your peasant finds the enemy gold mine or town hall, have him return
   to help your production.  (BTW, if he finds that your enemy has built a
   barracks instead of an extra farm, give up on the attack right then, and
   try to produce instead.)
5) Send your single footman to stand between the enemy's gold mine and his
   town hall.
6) Don't forget to produce as much as you can, even though you've crippled
   your production by militarism.  Especially, build more farms so you can
   produce more footmen.
7) When you have three or four footmen standing around between his mine and
   his town hall, send two or three of them to atttack his farms or his
   barracks, if he has any.  He should be really hurting for gold at this
   point, and easy to kill.
8) It's quite possible that he did manage to build a barracks.  In that
   case, he's probably attacking your attackers with just one footman at
   a time; you must make sure that you always attack his attackers with
   a 2:1 or 3:1 advantage.  When his footman is dead, resume position by
   the gold mine (with at least 1 grunt) and don't let his peasants get 
   any gold.

If your early attack doesn't work and he manages to get a barracks built
and repel your attack, your production may be behind his, depending on how
well you stopped his gold flow.  You may have managed to get ahead of him,
in which case your next step should be to send groups of archers from a
two barracks and a lumbermill.  Archers stop and kill peasants much more
easily than footmen, so this should defeat him.  If you are behind him at
this stage, hunker down for his counter-attack.  You might consider building
a catapult for a quick'n'dirty defense, if you have two barracks or you
already have a few guys around to back up the catapult.

#   -=4-7-3=-  Units

Grunts/Footmen

They suck, basically.  They die too easily and are much less effective than
spearmen or raiders.  Use them sparingly to shield your spearmen.  They're
cannon fodder.

Spearmen/Archers

Use these guys in large groups.  Always have four attacking the same target.
This is deadly even against raiders.  If they're defending, spread them out
so that an enemy catapult can't get them all.

Catapults

Good against large masses of troops.  They can kill up to nine with one shot.
They will work well against spearmen, which tend to stand off to attack.
However, a catapult can't harm anything right next to it.  So grunts and
especially raiders will do well attacking an undefended catapult.  Spearmen
should be told to move to the enemy catapult, where they can attack it
safely.

Raiders/Knights

A raider with full weapons and armor is one of the best offensive units.  The
wolf/horse upgrade is more useful than you might think, since the extra speed
allows a group of raiders to quickly attack the same target together.  

#   -=4-7-4=-  Magic

I prefer to play with conjurers, but without permitting elementals, since
elementals/demons will rule the battlefield once they are in play.  If you do
permit major summoning, then it may work well to attack your opponent with
masses of grunts and spearmen (backed up with a catapult or two) while he is
still spending time and resources trying to get major summoning.  Using
raiders to stop him from getting magic developed may not work well, since
raiders take about as much development as wizards.

Healing (Human):  Very useful.  Send a cleric tagging along a few spaces
   behind your attackers.  You may not want to bother even checking who is
   wounded;  just heal everyone, and whoever is not wounded won't suck up
   mana from the priest.

Raise dead (Orc):  Kind of useless.  Skeletons are very wimpy in the normal
   game, and serve only as a distraction.

Far seeing/Dark vision (Human/Orc):  Can be useful.  Usually, it works better
   to just send a suicide unit into the enemy camp, or scout him out early
   with a spare peasant.

Invisibility (Human):  A very nice spell.  Send invisible units to scout the
   enemy.  Make a group of archers or knights invisible, sneak them next to
   his gold mine, and have a mass-slaughter of his peasants before he can
   react.

Unholy armor (Orc): The defense-breaker.  Very useful.  Maxed-out raiders,
   when unholy-armored, can take out whole formations of archers. It is
   short-lasting, so send your necrolyte tagging along behind the raider;
   when he is nearly within target range, armor him and send him off.  A
   charged-up necrolyte can do unholy armor twice, so have him hang around
   until the unholy armor starts fading (a light blue line) and then armor
   the raider again and toddle home.  A smart enemy will just attack the
   necrolyte instead, so you may want to have a backup necrolyte armor your
   first necrolyte (when necessary).  Another idea:  when attacking en masse,
   unholy-armor the first unit in, since his defenses will tend to
   concentrate their fire on that unit.

Minor summoning (Orc/Human):  Many think that spiders and scorpions are
   useless.  I really like them.  You can use bugs to prop up a weak attack.
   You can cheerfully send them on a suicide mission to take out enemy
   conjurors.  You can still make bugs freely even after your gold has run
   out.  (This can swing the tide when production on both sides has slowed
   way down because the second mine is so far away.)  They also make
   expendable scouts.  But the best use for bugs is to harrass enemy
   peasants. If you can see his peasants, conjure up four or eight bugs and
   send one bug after each peasant.  This is very distracting and very hard
   to deal with unless he has a strong archer/spearmen defense covering his
   string of peasants.  Also, bugs make a cheap defensive line to help your
   archers against raiders or even catapults.  They die, but they may well
   buy enough time for your archers to do their work.

Rain of fire (Human):  Great against a mass of enemy troops.  This is the
   thing to use if the enemy is arrogantly gathering a force right outside
   your town.  Another idea: make (at least) four magicians invisible, march
   them next to his town, and have them rain fire together on the same general area.  You want four or more so as to be sure of destroying at
   least one or two buildings.  This should also wipe out his defenders.
   Better yet, have at least two invisible magicians rain fire on his string
   of gold-gathering peasants.

Poison cloud (Orc): This seems like a wimpy spell.  In actuality, two
   warlocks that empty their mana reserves on poison-clouding the same
   building should be able to destroy it.  The poison cloud also inhibits
   repairs and enemy counter attacks.  Be prepared to retreat your warlocks
   towards a defensive position of spearmen.  

Major summoning (Orc/Human): What can you say?  The game is about over.
   Once you have major summoning, concentrate everything on making as many
   magicians as possible.  Send elementals/demons out in groups of three or
   four and have them usually work on the same target.  (If the elementals
   are facing a group of archers/spearmen, you should probably split them
   up, one elemental to one spearman.)  Watch out for catapults; only
   catapults (or huge groups of spearmen) can defend against a demon or an
   elemental.  By way of variation, you can make an elemental invisible
   to sneak up on his conjurors (never mind the peasants, they don't matter
   too much anymore) or unholy-armor a demon which has to face a mass of
   archers and catapults.

   I don't use major-summoning in my games because it's too unbalanced.

#   -=4-7-5=-  Tactics

When mounting an attack, have your fighters form a group a short distance 
away from his town.  This way, they can attack as a unit.

Early, a catapult grouped with three spearmen can only be dealt with by
another catapult.  Advance this group towards his town and fire at will.  If
he does have a catapult, send a stooge somewhat ahead to draw away his
catapult fire.

Group four raiders (maxed on armor, wolves, and axes) together and attack
selected targets in his town.  This works especially well if he is relying
on catapults for defense.

If he is relying on spearmen for defense, build catapults and a scattering
of other units, to prevent him from using the spearmen-running-up-next-to-
the-catapults counterattack.  The catapults do marvelous work against
spearmen, which by default stand around as targets while attacking.

Attack his peasants.  They're soft and squishy and fun to kill.

When your gold mine is running low, start preparing for the time when 
it dies.  Build lots of conjurors, to use minor summoning at no gold
charge.  Build many peasants, so as to keep the gold flowing.  Build
a mass of spearman to act as guards for your soon to be very vulnerable
long string of peasants.  Don't forget to go looking for another gold mine
if you haven't found it yet.

Sometimes, it may pay to attack a farm instead of his peasants.  If he's
down a farm, he may not be able to build any military units until he gets
a new farm built, giving you a window of opportunity for the kill.




+---------------+-
++ Chapter Five ++   (Level-by-Level walkthrough)
-+---------------+

#   -=5-1=-  Human Scenarios

These level walkthrough take you through each scenario and give you level-
specific tactics and hints. They are not guaranteed to work, as Warcraft
require skill as well as strategy. However, I have had much success using
them. They may not be the easiest or fastest method of passing each
scenario, but they should help you complete the ones which you are having
trouble with.

#   -=5-1-1=-  Human level 1

As a test of your abilities the king has appointed 
you as regent over a small parcel of land. Since 
we must keep our armies in the field well supplied, 
you are to build the town into a farming centre of no 
less than six farms. Construction of a barracks for 
defence is also advised, as our scouts have reported 
Orc patrols in the area.

Objectives: 
BUILD: 6 FARMS, 1 BARRACKS

Strategy:
The first level is fairly simple. There is a gold mine directly to the right 
of your starting position. That and your starting gold is enough for you to 
build the five extra farms (you already have one to start with), and one
barracks. The left over money you can spend training two more peasants to 
speed up the building process. The are 8 orcs scattered around the map. They
will not come looking for you so if you don't explore, you won't even meet
one. You might accidentally attract one's attention with your peasants so 
have your footmen nearby. The safest place to harvest wood is to the 
Northeast, so get your two new peasants to chop there while your first 
peasant mines gold. Conserve your gold, do not build more roads unless you 
want to fight it out with the orcs for another gold mine.

#   -=5-1-2=-  Human level 2

The Orcs around Grand Hamlet are becoming increasingly 
brazen in their attacks, and our spies inform us that 
they are amassing a large army to march against the 
town. The King is sending you, along with a small 
detachment of troops, to rally the people and defend 
the town against all opposition.

Objectives:
DEFEND TOWN AND DESTROY ORCS

Strategy:
You should train another peasant right away so that the construction of a 
barracks and then a lumbermill can begin as soon as possible. There are gold
mines to the southeast, northwest, and far to the southwest. This first one 
is the safest and closest to your city and should last a while. Cover your 
peasants with your archer and have your footman stay close to your town. The
16 orcs will attack your town one at a time at regular intervals, so there 
is no need to explore until your first mine goes. Once the lumbermill is 
finished, just pump out as many archers as you can afford, while building
enough farms to feed them. At this point you may want to upgrade your arrow
strength and train another peasant or two. After that, just wait for the 
enemy to walk up to your town and be mowed down by your archers. When the
16th orc dies, the level is completed

#   -=5-1-3=-  Human level 3

With Blackhand's raiding parties routed, now is the
time for us to secure a lasting peace in the area
around Grand Hamlet. You must seek out the Orcish
outpost of Kyross that lies deep within the Swamps
of Sorrow, and destroy it.

Objectives:
DESTROY OUTPOST

Strategy:
Start by getting your peasants to mine gold and harvest lumber to the south
of your town. Then get one footman to start exploring. There is a swamp
which lies between you and the enemy town to the north west. Have your 
footman completely explore around the swamp because the enemies have to walk
around it to get to your town. Depending on which way they come around the 
swamp, they either appear to the southwest or northwest of your town. Post 
guards at both ends. Once you have explored in a circle around the edge of 
the swamp, you will be able to determine which side the attack will come 
from and then have time to divert the bulk of your defences to that one end.
Build some more archers as your gold comes in to reinforce your defences at 
both ends. Archers are much more effective than footman so try to have four 
or more archers for each footman. Train more peasants as needed. By the time
your first mine runs out, you should have a sizable army and upgraded arrows
completely. This is the time to advance. Move your defences to the far 
northwest corner of the swamp to intercept attacks before they reach your
town. This will also make two other mines safe for your peasants. Enemy 
grunts and necrolytes shouldn't even hurt you, and since archers have 
greater range than spearman, if you have enough archers, they won't bother 
you either. Now you can use a footman to walk into the enemy city and lure 
the defenders out to your waiting archers. Repeat this tactic to empty the 
enemy town and then send in your archers to mop up the buildings.

#   -=5-1-4=-  Human level 4

It has been some twenty months since Sir Lothar, 
one of the crown's greatest heroes, led an expedition 
into the Dead Mines to search for the Lost Tome of
Divinity. They were never heard from again. However, 
the great knight has recently appeared to the Abbot 
of Northshire in a vision - battered and pleading 
for assistance. King Llane has ordered you to lead 
a detachment of warriors and healers into the mines 
in an attempt to find Sir Lothar, heal him, and bring 
him and any other survivors back alive.

Objectives: 
RESCUE LOTHAR

Strategy:
Formation is the key in the dungeon type missions. This is one which is
very successful:
              
            F     F
            C A C C      F: footman
            A A A A      A: archer
            F   F        C: cleric
              
              F 
                        
          <unexplored>

Have your footman facing the front to fend off the ogres while your archers
kill them from a distance. The front footman explores ahead so that the
archers can react when ogres come into range. The two footman in the back
are to protect your clerics who are vulnerable to attack from the rear.
As soon as you detect an ogre, usually by it attacking your front footman,
make the unit run back to your archers. The archers will take out the
offending ogre and you have not suffered any losses. Use your clerics to
heal your injured and continue down the tunnel. Never split up, even if
there is an fork in the tunnel, stay together and you will always come out
on top in the ogre confrontations. After you reach Lothar, stay there until
he and the other injured (5 archers) are completely healed, then make your
way out of the dungeon with a much stronger force.

#   -=5-1-5=-  Human level 5

The forest of Elwynn is a strategic key to securing 
the Borderlands. An outpost near the southeast edge 
of the forest will serve as your stronghold. The King 
has assigned one of his knights to aid you, so that 
your task of ridding the area of Blackhand's dark 
minions may be more readily completed.

Objectives: 
DESTROY ORCS

Strategy:
There are mines to the north and south. Begin by training another peasant
to chop wood to the south making a path the second mine. Have your initial
two peasants mine gold to the north. Explore westward with a footman, but
stop when you find a small opening in the trees going northward. The enemy
town lies further that way. Enemies start coming right away in groups of 
2-3, so ready your defences. Find a small patch of trees close to your town
which resembles a triangle and position your units there. As soon as you can
afford it, build a barracks and then a woodmill. While your woodmill is 
being constructed, make a couple of footmen to replace those that died. Once
the woodmill completed though, train nothing except for archers for a while. 
During this time you should train a couple of extra peasants when you have 
the gold. While you train archers, begin saving up for a church. When you 
have 8 archers, train 2 clerics and upgrade arrows to the full. Don not 
research far-seeing yet, use your available money to build a blacksmith. 
Once this is done upgrade your armour. At this point you should have about 5
peasants, 3 footmen, 8 archers, 2 clerics, now it is time to think about 
advancing. Go to the opening in the tree you found earlier and position your
archer around it, have a couple of footman by your archers in case a raider 
or something gets through. Have your clerics as far back as possible but
able to heal your troops when it is needed. When you feel comfortable with
your position here, research far-seeing, upgrade swords, train more archers
as you see fit. With far-seeing you can explore and find the enemy town
without risking anyone. Once you have found the enemy defensive positions,
use your footman to lure a couple of enemy at a time to your archers. Do
this until the town is deserted except for a few peons, and send in your
main force.

#   -=5-1-6=-  Human level 6

The monks of Northshire abbey are under siege by a 
band of warriors that have been convinced by enemy 
agents to fight against the crown. You will be given 
a complement of knights to lead to the abbey, which 
is already under attack. Ride hard and fast, as you 
must prevent its destruction. When you have secured 
the abbey and beaten back these treacherous curs, you 
must then move to destroy the enemy at their source.

Objectives:
SAVE THE ABBEY AND DESTROY THE TRAITORS

Strategy:
Attack the enemy as fast as you can and you might only lose two buildings.
Pick off the enemy archers with your knights and use you archers and footmen 
to kill the enemy knights and footmen. As this is happening, begin training 
a peasant. After the initial attackers are gone, you peasant should almost
be ready and you can start to rebuild. Train a cleric when you have the 
money because some of your units are probably badly injured. The enemy town
is to the north, on the other side of the lake. Most attacks will come from 
the west side of the lake and will appear north of your town. However, once
in a while a group of two enemy knights and a cleric will go the other way
and attack your town from the east. Put one knight there to protect your 
peasants who may be working there. Use another knight to explore along the
western edge of the lake northward, do not go more than half-way up the 
screen or he will be killed by enemy archers. Make sure to explore the 
eastern lake edge as well till you reach a mine. This will let you know when
attacks are coming. Attacks usually come in the form of a knight, 1+ archers
plus a warlock or cleric. The enemy clerics will heal the attackers as they
get injured, so pick them off with your own archers. After an attack, be 
careful of enemy catapults. Because of their slow speed, they arrive after 
the main attack. Send out one knight or footman to deal with it. If you were
lucky, your woodmill might have survived from the beginning, if not rebuild
it. After that, spend a while just training archers. Station 3 at the 
eastern edge of your town to defend against attacks from that way. Place the
rest with your other defenders. Be sure to spread your men out some, just in
case an enemy catapult catches you off guard. Rebuild your blacksmith while
training another peasant. This will allow you to train catapults which 
really help out, especially when are you attacked by multiple enemies. Then,
when you have sufficient funds, upgrade your arrows, armour, swords, 
preferably in that order. At this point, the level becomes like any other, 
just use the same lure technique explained in previous levels to clear out 
the defenders and send in your main force.

#   -=5-1-7=-  Human level 7

A Raiding party has completely overrun the village of 
Sunnyglade. Our scouts report that the survivors have 
been taken to a hidden Orcish compound to serve as 
slaves. You must take a detachment of warriors and 
rescue the group of peasants that are imprisoned 
somewhere in the Orc camp. Our intelligence confirms 
that all of the prisoners are together, and that you 
must destroy the enclosure to open a path for their 
escape. The rebuilding of Sunnyglade is also of the 
utmost importance, as you will need their assistance 
in destroying the Orcish slavers.

Objectives:
RESCUE PEASANTS, DEMOLISH ORCS

Strategy:
This is one of the harder levels. Especially if you have a version of 
WarCraft before 1.21 (see section 7-1). You don't start out with much, and 
you don't get more anytime soon. Leave a cleric and a knight at the town to
defend it. Move the rest of your men to the bridge at the centre of the map. 
Place them is a formation similar to this:

          c     
     ,,,,,,   K    ,,,,,       c = cleric
           [ C   A]            C = catapult
bridge --> [ A   A]            A = archer
           [ K K A]            K = knight
      ~~~~~        ~~~~~       e = oncoming enemy  
              e  e
                e