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| Author |
File Description |
| Alan Spencer |
Posted on 03/07/02 @ 12:00 AM
| File Details |
|---|
| Map Size: |
300x300 (Medium) |
| Difficulty: |
Normal |
Title: 1121-Lord of Ludlow
Version: 1.00
Map Type: Invasion
Install to: stronghold/maps
Scenario Length: 50-60 yrs.
Victory Conditions: Take the castle by killing the Steward
(the defending Lord) then resist all attempts to retake it.
Credits: Based on an idea suggested by
CanadianMonk3y (www.strongholdcentral.com)
SCENARIO BACKGROUND:
====================
You are Sir Hugh de Lacy, in your opinion the rightful Lord
of Ludlow Castle on the border with Wales. This fine castle
was built by your ancestors to protect the estates granted
your family by William the Conqueror after the Battle of
Hastings in 1066. However, one of your pious forefathers
rebelled with many other barons against King William II (The
Conqueror's son) for the atrocities he committed against the
church. The rebellion was however ruthlessly quashed and
your family's castle was confiscated along with much of its
estates. The current Castellan at Ludlow Castle, Sir Joce de
Dinan, is your most hated enemy. The time has come for you
to take back, and then hold, that which is rightfully yours!
When the rubble settles and the bodies are heaped for the
funeral pyre, who will be Lord of Ludlow?
Historical Notes:
=================
This scenario is based on a famous incident, as described
above and below, recounted in the medieval story-poem 'The
Romance of the Fitz-Warines'. Historically Ludlow Castle
was stealthily retaken by Hugh de Lacy and then held against
a most fearsome siege. At one point it almost fell, a
disaster averted only by the late arrival of de Lacy's
Welsh allies, who fell on the enemy from behind just after
these had succeeded in taking the outer bailey by assault.
In the story-poem Joce de Dinan never got the castle back
after losing it to Hugh de Lacy, despite a long siege and
even after appealing to King Henry to intercede on his
behalf! He left it in his will to his son-in-law, Fulk
Fitz-Warine, whom also failed ever to reclaim it.
SCENARIO DETAILS:
=================
As the rightful Lord of Ludlow Castle you have been waiting
for your chance to reclaim your heritage. A previous siege
failed dismally. Now, however, your spies report that Sir
Joce de Dinan, Castellan at Ludlow, has departed the castle
to attend festivities at Lambourn in Berkshire, taking with
him most of the garrison as his honour guard. With the castle
now significantly weakened, this is the chance for which
you've been waiting.
Swiftly you assemble your forces and call upon your allies.
Sir Arnold de Lys, an honourable knight and no friend of de
Dinan's, rallies to your aid and brings his best men. Allies
are also on their way from Wales, but these have a longer
journey and might not arrive in time to assist with the
initial siege.
On arrival at the castle you are delighted to see that the
local peasants, hearing of your approach, have taken up arms
and risen in revolt against the hated Castellan, de Dinan.
Your army is greatly heartened by their support (20% combat
bonus whilesoever most of their village survives).
Your goal is to take back Ludlow Castle before Joce de Dinan
returns from his trip with the bulk of his forces. Expect an
immediate and frenzied attack when he returns. Should this
attack of his fail and you be left in control of Ludlow,
de Dinan will then call upon his own allies and begin
assembling siege equipment. Thankfully, this will take a
little time. It will not be easy to hold this castle against
the forces he can eventually muster as you will likely need
to make hasty repairs and perhaps even improve upon the
castle defences, while trying to maintain a decent economy.
This is not an easy scenario. It is perhaps my hardest yet.
This is one for the more experienced player and those whom
enjoy a real challenge. Most players are likely to face
defeat several times, at different stages and for different
reasons each time. Use the tips below if you find it tough
going: these will help!
SCENARIO CAST:
==============
Sir Hugh de Lacy - You. Ludlow castle is yours by birthright
but was taken from your ancestors in punishment for rebellion
against a cruel, unjust and sinful King.
Sir Joce de Dinan (The Pig) - The current Castellan of Ludlow
Castle and your most hated & despised foe. Has powerful allies.
Sir Fulk Fitz-Warine (The Rat) - de Dinan's son-in-law and heir.
Afraid of you, but utterly terrified of his father-in-law!
(The Wolf) - Representing any / all of de Dinan's allies (gulp!)
The Steward (defending Lord at start) - The knight left in charge
at Ludlow, and the one you must kill for the castle to fall.
Sir Arnold de Lys - Your honourable friend and ally. Leads your
mounted knights in battle. These will not be easy to replace so
take care of them and use them wisely.
Outlaws - Ignore the name. This is the only means I have of
representing your Welsh Allies arriving at a later date. :(
Lady Marion de la Bruere - A lady of Ludlow Castle. Sir Arnold's
secret lover, and your spy! It was she who passed you word that
de Dinan and much of his garrison have temporarily left Ludlow...
(The story tells us she later murdered her lover then committed
suicide, supposedly out of guilt for betraying the castle!).
SCENARIO TIPS:
==============
Skip this section if you want to try it without help. If you
fail in your first effort, be sure to read this and try again!
Tip 1: Joce de Dinan is not a popular lord and neither is
his Steward (the knight he left in charge during his
absence). Your spies give you reason to believe that
should you succeed in killing the Steward, all of the
surviving garrison may immediately throw down their
arms and swear loyalty to you instead!
Tip 2: The same goes for every building and field in and
around the castle. Anything your own siege does not
destroy will become yours should you successfully kill
the Steward and thereby seize the castle. In essence,
destroy as little as possible for the best possible
chance of actually holding Ludlow against Dinan's
return. This is important as there are some useful
buildings which you cannot replace under siege.
Tip 3: This scenario is similar in style to the game's own
Military Campaign mission 'The Ransom' (capture a
castle, hurriedly repair it, then fight to hold it).
However, the easy trick in that mission is simply
not to attack for a while but to let the enemy
build up the stone stocks for you, as no invasions
come until a certain time after you *take* the
castle. This trick will not however work in this
scenario: both waiting and not waiting have advantages
and disadvantages. The choice is entirely yours, if
you can figure out what the pros and cons are!
Tip 4: Ludlow Castle was built with a sally-port (the Postern
Gate near the river) used to rush out and attack a
siege camp. Use it wisely and for the purpose intended,
should the opportunity arise. The greatest danger to
you is the enemy's siege equipment, especially later.
Tip 5: A tip you should recognise from my previous 3 scenarios -
you have only a small quarry so make the most of it! :p
Get this up and running as soon as possible after each
attack, even prevent its destruction if you're able to.
Where possible, reinforce and even thicken your walls.
Tip 6: As Hugh de lacy originally took back Ludlow using stealth
I have made it possible to take this castle with minimum
casualties on either side. If you can figure out what
way this might be, you'll gain a considerable advantage.
Tip 7: Wood is your most important resource after you've taken
the castle. Most invasions will destroy your crops and
you will need to hastily replant these to survive. Look
for ways to protect your wood supply even under siege.
Tip 8: In the longer term you'll need armoured troops. Ensure
a constant supply of iron from the local trader and
never let your skilled armourers and blacksmiths idle.
Tip 9: Man cannot live on cheese alone! Re-plant crop fields as
often as necessary to build up stocks inbetween attacks.
In emergencies you can buy some food from the merchant.
LUDLOW CASTLE NOTES:
====================
This is a fairly accurate representation of one of the largest
early Norman stone castles. Ludlow Castle was one of a line of
castles built along the Welsh Marches to pacify the countryside
and hold back the unconquered Welsh. The 60 ft hill chosen for
the site had a fine level building surface, and steep slopes to
the north and west made this a good defensive position. The
rivers Teme and Corve gave further protection. Most of the
castle was built of chunky Silurian limestone quarried from
its own site.
The exact date of construction is unknown though the de Lacy
family, who built Ludlow, received the lands on which it stands
in 1066, when William the Conqueror became King of England. The
earliest parts of the castle architecture would appear to be
dated to within just a few decades of this, and certainly before
the end of the 11th century.
The Ludlow tale providing the background for this scenario is,
so far as historians can tell, a true story.
DESIGN NOTES:
=============
Much of Ludlow Castle is still standing and I was pleased to
find an accurate floorplan of the site. I have done my best
to recreate the castle faithfully, within the limitations of
the game editor. Unfortunately I have never had the pleasure
of visiting the site personally and neither could I find a
source explaining exactly which way the castle faces! I was
however able to find a local map showing the rivers and the
location of the castle in relation to these, so I have simply
made a 'best guess' as to which way the castle faces. Similarly,
the rest of the terrain is purely a figment of my own active
imagination, so I allowed gameplay and balance to dictate my
actions in this respect.
Some points are worthy of note. The inner bailey at Ludlow was
protected by a 20 ft deep, but dry, ditch, which I have tried
faithfully to recreate. This had a drawbridge across it but
as dry ditches do not pose much of an obstacle in this game,
and as drawbridges above ground level are impossible, I have
simply created a land bridge. Secondly, the large round tower
standing on its own in the inner bailey represents the castle
chapel. This was built of stone, one of only five round ones
built by the Normans in England, and had a crenelated rooftop.
From this I surmised it could be used for defensive purposes
and hence have represented this feature with a round tower.
Finally, the only other round tower of this castle (on the west
wall) is called Mortimer's Tower after Sir Hugh de Mortimer was
held prisoner there until a large ransom was paid to his captor,
Joce de Dinan. In fact this tower was only half round, being
squared off inside the castle, but as it's one of the earliest
examples of such developments I have included it as a full round
tower.
Have Fun!
Alan Spencer
alan.spencer@strategygamers.org
http://www.strategygamers.org
PS. If you enjoy discussing strategy games check out the above url!
|
| Author | Comments & Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
|---|
| Lord Anatoly |
Posted on 03/12/02 @ 12:00 AM |
| ultima_spock |
Posted on 08/28/02 @ 12:00 AM
the first times i was crushed by the final invasions.
the next time i raise other square towers with mangonel and hire lots of crossbowmens. i laughed about the fial invasions and was almost not damage.
tried it at the very hard level, but was unable to begin. indeed i merely won the first invasion after you take the castle at the hard level, at the very hard it is impossible
to raise the difficulty of the map, the authour could
ever disable mangonel, or square tower
or disable tanner's workshop or fletchr's worksop to limit the number to bowmens/crossbowmens
still an excellent map |
| gody00 |
Posted on 10/27/05 @ 09:55 PM
(Insert Playability analysis here)
Balance: 5
(Insert Balance analysis here)
Creativity: 5
(Insert Creativity analysis here)
Map Design: 5
(Insert Map Design analysis here)
Story/Instructions: 5
(Insert Story/Instructions analysis here)
Additional Comments:
Really nice map, well done !
[Edit – This review has be retracted by staff as part of a retrospective moderation of reviews. This was carried out to deal with the issue of some reviews not meeting the minimum standard. The content of the retracted review has been left to stand as a comment. The author is welcome to contact staff about this. Edited by ericgolf][Edited on 11/21/08 @ 12:35 PM]
|
| Jasper Tudor |
Posted on 11/12/05 @ 12:55 PM
Very fun al the way through.
Balance: 5
Very well balanced, made it my second attempt at normal, and I have no idea how people completed this map at very hard in SEC.
Creativity: 4
Afterall, it's a historic castle, and it's a simple "Survive all the invasions"-map, but i don't want to bring the score down, 'cause it is an excellent map.
Map Design: 4
Good, though it could have been more detailed, but it is rather accurate to the real nature from what I've seen from photos.
Story/Instructions: 5
Well written story.
|
| lollard97367 |
Posted on 11/12/05 @ 02:02 PM
Lollard |
| Dark NeRo |
Posted on 03/03/06 @ 02:35 PM
this map is very fun to play i played it more than any other map i can remember. The Ai does its work very fine and its very challenging even on normal
Balance: 5
this map is ery hard to beat it tooks me 6 attempts to bweat on normal but i like hard maps. The siege was very simpel. after defending some of the pigs troops i killed the archers on the wall and destroyed the ballista with my monks. When i played it the 4th time i saw that there is a good way to kill the lot withut getting the castle much damaged. I placed my archers on thr round tower and shoot the lord down. I capture most of pigs troops and the castle wasnt damaged so much. WHen the first invasion arrives i had pulled down all my man in the second ring and so i could win it. When all enimies were killed i placed first a new marked and began collecting stones to make the walls repaired and make them thicker at critical parts. I began ´placin lots of wodcutter and weath farms, bakeries and mills and also some chees buildings. I deledet the killing bitches so i could get more wood. I began slowly producing crowsbows and makemen shortly after i had managed the second invasion and continied until the last invasion. My walls broke mainly because of siegeequipments. and my gate also. I didnt replace it and build it with walls. because i just wanted to survive lol. I delayted towers and everything else i didnt need so i could get stone to repair broken walls.What a great fight!!!!!!!! lastly i won with 137 archer 62 xbowmen, And about 200 feedman but note this was my 6th attempt so i got experience and made much saves so it was not a so clear victorie like my remaining units might told you. I just think there might be place more stone on the map, just a little.
Creativity: 5
ludlow castle was a great chosse and i like al at this map.
Map Design: 5
castle is very nice designd i might give a four but th efight was symply great and its very nice so here also 5
Story/Instructions: 5
story is well written and very clearly:
Additional Comments:
great castl, great siege,great story GREAT battle. VERY GOOD ALAN SPENCER |
 
HGDL v0.8.2 |
| Rating |
|---|
| 4.7 | | Breakdown |
|---|
| Playability | 4.8 | | Balance | 4.3 | | Creativity | 4.8 | | Map Design | 4.8 | | Story/Instructions | 5.0 |
| Statistics |
| Downloads: | 3,364 |
| Favorites: [] | 0 |
| Size: | 693.97 KB |
| Added: | 03/07/02 |
|
