"The twisting Floodwater River divides the land of the Knights, led by Lord Ironfist. He counts on the river to protect him. The only town suitable to boat-building lies along the river far to the East. To defeat Ironfist, you must capture his home castle in the far Northwest."
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Map size: medium Win condition: capture Castle Ironfist Defeat condition: be defeated |
Knight location: North of river Barbarian, Sorceress, Warlock location: South of river |
Remember I said that, depending on your hero type, you only have to play certain maps? This is the first of those maps. If you are the Knight, you will not have to play this map, because you can't really fight yourself. The Barbarian, Sorceress, and Warlock, however, have to complete this map to continue.
Regardless of your hero type, you always start in the Southeast corner with a castle and a town. There are 3 other towns on your side of the river, two of which always match your own town type, and another that is different. You side of the river contains all the mines, resources, and artifacts you need to get started.
However, the Knights on the other side start with 3 castles and 3 towns. They also have all necesary resources and mines nearby, and they get much more of them! Also, they are not guarded as heavily as you will find them on your side of the river. You can beat all the enemy Knights, and capture all the towns/castles, if you like, but your primary target is Castle Ironfist in the Northwest corner.
Start quickly, capture those other same-type towns I mentioned earlier as soon as possible; they will give you a huge boost in creatures and gold. Don't worry about the enemy heroes too much right now, just grab as much as you can.
To reach the other side of the river, you need to go Southwest from your starting postion, and North again when the forest permits. You will be on a small "thumb" of land across the river from Castle Ironfist. At the end of the thumb is a glowing lith, which takes you to the other side of the river, between several Knight castles. You will have to clear out a group of Paladins standing guard (unless they have been removed already) before you can move on. You will soon be confonted by enemy heroes: make sure you have a big army so as to withstand their attacks. If you can, capture one of the Knight castles, and add Knight troops to your own army where you can. This will strengthen your own army.
To reach Ironfist Castle, you must get on a boat, and ride there. To get a boat, you must capture the Eastern-most Knight castle (just across the river from your first castle), and build a boat. However, it may be that, long before you get over there through the glowing lith, the Knights may be on the water already. Be prepared for this: leave your castles heavily defended, and have a hero or two around for support.
This can be a very long and hard journey. It can be made shorter, however, if you build up your mage guilds and get the Dimension Door spell. If you get Dimension Door, you don't need to board a ship to get to Ironfist Castle (you can if you want, however). Simply go to the thumb of land I mentioned earlier, and stand so you can see a strip of grass on the Northern side of the river. Cast Dimension Door to take yourself straight to Ironfist Castle. This maneuver can be a real timesaver, as you would otherwise have to capture the one Knight castle capable of producing boats, get on a boat, and ride it all the way to Ironfist Castle. Dimension Door shortens the journey considerably.
There are four obelisks on this map, but they cannot be reached by conventional means. They are on a small piece of land at the Western end of the river, South of Ironfist Castle. It must be accessed by boat, or by using the Dimension Door spell from the large thumb of land I mentioned above. Send a hero to visit them, and hope that the ultimate artifact is on your side of the river! Otherwise, you may have to brave the hordes of Knight troops to find it. Also on this strip of land are four artifacts, which may turn out to be useful.
Use spells during the battle to capture Castle Ironfist. Berzerker, for example, can cause enemy troops to fight each other and not you. At the beginning of the battle, before your catapult knocks down the walls, use Berzerker (if you managed to get it) on enemy troops. Being penned behind walls, the affected troops will slaughter each other. This is how it worked for me when I was doing this map; there were about 60 Paladins standing next to 200 Archers. I cast Berzerker on the Paladins, who then proceeded to wipe out the Archers. Make use of Berzerker, for it can whittle down enemy forces quickly. If you got it, Meteor Shower will be useful here as well.
"The Knights are broken in battle! You have conquered their homeland."