Ambush | Learning Campaign - Lionheart Stronghold: Crusader II Guide

Win:

• Time passed: 25 days
• All enemy units are gone

Lose:

• Your Lord dies

The roles are reversed - your task will be to defend the castle from Arabian attacks. You will be attacked from every side, but you should be aware of the fact that attacks from each side will consists only of given units. Those are:

• North - a huge group of Slaves
• North-East - a group of Horse Archers
• South-West - Catapults, Arabian Swordsmen, Arabian Archers
• South-East - Catapults, Arabian Swordsmen, Arabian Archers, Mantlets, Oil Pot Throwers

As you can see, you will have your hands full, but despite the first impression, the mission is trivial. Along with it, you've gained access to your most efficient food source - bread. You start the mission with 300 units of Wheat in your Stockpile, which is way more than enough to finish it. That is precisely why you shouldn't even bother with your buildings in the oasis, in the North - if the enemy Slaves set them on fire, just sell them and never rebuild them.

Those buildings can be totally omitted - you have a sufficient supply of Wheat from the very beginning.

At the very beginning, use your whole gold to buy wood. Afterwards, build 3 Bakeries and 2 Stone Quarries (Eastern part of your castle) - don't forget to build about 5 Ox Tethers next to them. Use the rest of your wood to build 5-6 Wood Camps, but not near the trees in the oasis, but next to your own Stockpile - this way, despite quite a long walk, your woodcutters will be relatively safe, and their workplace won't be burning all the time. If you even run into any problems with wood, you can just simply buy it on the market.

Afterwards, focus on sending appropriate troops to specific sections of your walls:

• North side - at the moment Archers will suffice. Northern side will be attacked by Slaves only. At the end of the mission you will have to endure a cumulative attack from the North - you can send all your troops there then.
• North-Eastern side - this side should also consist mainly of Archers. From this side you will be attacked by Horse Archers only, who are extremely vulnerable to any kind of attack. Also, try to build a Medium Tower here as soon as possible - this way, your Archers will gain a significant height advantage over their adversaries.
• South-Eastern and South-Western sides should be consisting of a mixed squad of Archers and Crossbowmen. You should also try to build a Medium Tower here - it will come in handy while dealing with enemy archers, as well as Catapults. You should also have a squad of Macemen ready at all times - you can send them to destroy the enemy siege equipment and retreat them back behind the walls so that your Archers and Crossbowmen can finish of the leftover soldiers.

Build a wall on the North-Eastern side of your settlement to prevent the enemy from attacking your Stone Quarries.

Apart from all things mentioned, there is still a risk of enemy attack from the North-Eastern side - a group of Slaves can split up and attack your Stone Quarries. To prevent that from happening, build a wall there and send a small squad of Archers on top of it - this way, your troops will get rid of any pesky troops trying to "backdoor" you. The same goes with the enemies coming from the South - some of them can split up and attack your quarries there. Build a single wall to prevent movement from that side.

The same goes with the Southern side - build a single wall to block the Southern entrance to your Stone Quarries.

Remember to raise your taxes (and/or food rations) as soon as you start generating large amounts of bread - gold will be needed to recruit your troops. During the mission, you should also build another Mill, 3-4 Bakeries, and after that focus solely on armament production - build 3-4 Fletcher's Workshops, and 1 Armourer's Workshop - if you want to recruit more Crossbowmen, you have to build 1 Armourer's Workshop and 1 Artillator's Workshop, as they require both a crossbow and an armor. If you want to recruit more Macemen, build 1-2 Forges - if you happen to have insufficient amount of iron, you have to build another Iron Mine. During this mission you won't be able to buy any weapon, so proper production is even more important.

Recruit your troops all the time and send them to previously mentioned sides of your wall, and you should have no trouble with defending your castle. Nearing the end of the mission, your enemy will send a massive attack from the Northern side only. Send all your forces to the Northern walls and wait for enemy troops to attack. You can also send your Macemen to get rid of enemy siege equipment.