IT IS A TIME OF LEGENDS. A time for heroes. A time of bitter strife, when great men rise above their peers to perform great deeds. A chapter of history is in the making. Your liege the King is dead, the throne vacant. Britain enters a season of destruction, a winter of killing that can only end when the last brave saxon knight lies dead or the castles of the Normans lie in heaps of rubble, emptied of the foul opressors who have inslaved your people. It is a time when foreign invaders shall learn truths administered by the shining blades of Saxon swords. It is a time when heroes are made and legends are born. SCENARIO -------- The King is dead. The six knights (chosen from 8) are now fighting to determine which one of them shall become the replacement. Three of them are Saxons (including you), and three are Normans. You have an advantage: You have Robin Hood as your ally, and he will help you out in three crucial battles, as well as harassing Normans from time to time. POLITICS -------- The Saxons are your allies, and you may pass through their lands (colored blue) safely, if you choose, or you may attack them. The Normans (earth colors) are your joint enemies, and to win you must occupy each of the three Norman home castles. HOW TO PLAY ----------- Choose your character on the screen by clicking on the picture of the Saxon of your choice. When the game begins, choose your actions from the main menu by clicking on the option you desire. Note that the following Main Menu actions end your turn: HOLD TOURNAMENT, GO RAIDING, BUY SOLDIERS, QUIT, END TURN and attacking a territory. You may escape from some of the options (like GO RAIDING), by clicking on another area of the screen. To build your home army choose BUILD ARMY from the main menu. Then click on one or more of the following items: soldiers, knights, catapults or castles. Click on the BUYING ARMY-HOME at the top of the text box to change to REFUNDING VALUE-HOME in order to refund a purchase. Click on the bar again to switch back to BUYING ARMY-HOME. You may only refund purchases in the same turn that you bought them. THE MAP ------- THE CASTLES: Six great lords will vie for the throne; their castles dominate the island nation. In the south are the three Norman castles, to the north are the homes of the three Saxons. If a Saxon lord captures every one of the Norman fortresses, he will win the throne. READING THE MAP: Your advisers will decipher the map for you. Indicate to them what interests you -- They know the value of the lands that lie before you, and can estimate the strengths and weaknesses of your enemies. Pay careful attention to their words. The knowledge can help you to achieve success. ARMY BUILDING: What portion of your treasury will you devote to conquest? How much will you spend on defense? Knights dominate the fields of battle, but only catapults will reduce the massive walls of a Norman castle. Remember the defense of your castle -- mounted knights are useless atop the battlements. You need stout men-at-arms, and the more the better. The army you build here defends your castle when you're at home, and spearheads campaigns of conquest. When your army is on the march, the ranks will be bolstered by vassals from the lands in your possesion, but the vassals are too far away to be called apon when your castle is under attack. BUILDING NEW CASTLES: After successful campaigns, income from new dominions fills your treasury, but the burdon of defense will be greater as well. Build castles to defend your lands. Without castles to stop them, invaders will sweep through your territories before you can respond. A line of imposing castles along your borders will make a potential invader think twice before entering your domain. SAGE ADVICE ----------- 1. Familiarize yourself with your surroundings. Select "Read map" from the menu. Inspect the territory around your castle, then size up your opponents. 2. Select "Build army" from the menu. Two columns show the cost of men and weapons, and the size of your home army. Your home army is the garrison of your castle -- Add knights, men and catapults to this force as your treasury allows. 3. Men-at-arms are the least expensive military commodity, and the core of an army's strength, valuable at home for defense or in fields of conquest. Fighting on horseback, Knights are usefull mainly for attack -- They can splinter a defending army with a single terrifying charge. YOUR INCOME: Although you start with a modest income from your feudal estates,one or two forays of conquest can exhaust the treasury. Increase your income by adding new lands to your domain -- Sme territories are richer than others, but each one contributes weath to the treasury. At first, turmoil caused by the death of the king presents an opportunity to those who act quickly. Throughout the land there is anarchy -- How can sheriffs collect taxes without the power of the king behind them? None of the lands has an overlord, and those surrounding your castle can be taken quite easily, indeed. Move too slowly, however, and the other lords may grab the lion's share of the territories before you've passed through your castle gates. To win the game you must know your opponents, and that means knowing their ratings. One of the first actions in the game, is to use the READ MAP option from the SEEK CONQUEST menu. Look at the opposing lord's home territories and look at their ratings. Be warned, the SPY option yields valuable information but it isn't cheap. Be sure to use it sparingly or you may find your coffers empty. Many strategies can lead to victory, and a strategy that works in one game may not work in another. Observe the ebb and flow of battle in each game and plan your strategy accordingly. Remember, the Saxons are a nervous lot and some games may require an alliance by force of arms. If all Saxons have captured all the Norman castles, the game isn't quite over. To win, you must attack and capture all three Norman castles, even if they are being held by Saxons. EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES --------------------------- Whilst playing the game strategically, juggling the political balance to best suit your ends, you also have the chance, from time to time, to attend or hold a Jousting Tournament, Raid an enemy (or allied) castle, and rescue a beautiful ward of one of your allies from the hands of the enemy kidnappers. These events will have an impact on the rest of the game, but it is not essential to do well in them. CONQUEST -------- Your campaign army is represented on the map by the mounted knight. From the SEEK CONQUEST menu, select MOVE ARMY to capture hostile or undefended territories, and to move through friendly ones. (MOVE ARMY is the default option and need not be highlighted - just click on a territory.) You may get Robin's help before attacking by choosing SEE ROBIN. To transfer forces between your army and your territories (or garrisons) select TRANSFER MEN. The campaign army - in medieval Europe, land was held by Vassals in exchange for Military and other services given to overlords. When you venture from your castle in search of conquest, vassals from your lands form the foundation of your campaign army. Bolster the ranks by shifting men and weapons from your home army, but remember -- the careful general leaves behind a strong garrison to protect his castle unless he plans to stay close to home. What path will you take on the road to conquest? Should you strike early at the Normans, or capture lands in the north and take time to build an invincible army? The course of your campaign may take you through Saxon land, Norman territory or Unoccupied areas, but remember -- if enemy territories lie across the path to your chosen destination, you will have to capture them before continuing on your way. Battles and sieges - capturing undefended territory is easy, laying siege to a castle much costlier and far more difficult. When you begin a siege, remember that boulders can reduce a castle wall but only greek fire and disease will reduce the numbers of the castle's defenders. Operating a catapult requires a steady hand and an eye for distances. Ammunition can vary in weight, and a catapult setting that launched a great boulder directly into the castle wall may hurl a smaller stone over the highest tower. THE NORMAN CONQUEST William the conqueror understood the art of medieval warfare and knew the importance of castles; In fact, he might have not been able to subdue the Anglosaxons without superior weapons and tactics. Englishmen could rise with great courage to meet a national emergency, and in the dark months of 1066 they fought two great bettles on the north against Viking invaders before meeting William and his Normans at Hastings. William defeated the English at the end of a long and bloody day, his men figting on horseback with swords and lances against an enemy that still fought on foot and favored the battle axe. But Saxons were slow to accept defeat, and rebellions lead by Edgar the Aetheling and Edrick the Wild upset the Norman's plans. William set about building castles. He constructed dozens of fortresses to consolidate his gangs and provide bases for further advance. Again the Normans demonstrated superior skills, erecting the powerfull castles on well- chosen sites. Towering above the landscape, William's castles controlled the countryside for miles around with their mere presence. Saxon resistance continued for many years, but the Norman's hold on England was secure. JOUSTING -------- You need at least five gold pieces to host a jousting tournament. When other lords hold tournaments, the code of chivalry requires you to attend, but for free. If you hold a Tournament, or attend one that another noble is holding, you will then be given the choice to joust for land or fame. If you are doing well with your land holdings, you may choose to try to expand them, and this is a nice friendly way (ie: you won't go to war) of getting land from your allies. If you are short on land, it would be better to go for fame. When you first begin playing Defender of the Crown and jousting, you will need a bit of practice jousting. Hold tournaments often, and choose Wolfric the Wild as your character, as he'll give you the best jousting advantage. The game will switch to an overhead view of the entire tournament. There is a lot to look at here, although none of it is important. You will see your horse trotting from the left to the right, and you can speed it up to a canter by repeatedly hitting the mouse button. At this point, the game switches to a side view of the two knights approaching one another. When you get close enough, the view will switch again and show you a first-person view of your opponent heading towards you. Use the mouse to direct the point of your lance over onto the shield of your opponent, as close to the center of the "X" as possible. When you get close, press the mouse button to strike. If you hit, you will hear a 'CLANK'. The third person view comes back on the screen, and you see the result of the bout. If you hit successfully, you will see your opponent (the blue knight) knocked off of his horse, and you will win leadership, fame, or land. If you did not successfully hit, and your opponent did, it will show you getting knocked off, and you will lose the land (if that's what you bet) and a point of leadership. Often, neither knight will hit, and the horses will come around for another pass. Do not inadvertently aim for your opponent's horse, be it head or body. If you hit the horse in the joust, you will kill it and big trouble will befall you. You will lose all of your land, many of your soldiers and knights, your leadership will drop to bottom, and you will be banned from all future jousting events. I would suggest you joust against Sir Phillip Malvoisin and Sir Geoffry Longsword while learning how, as they are the worst jousters. See the charts at the end of this file for statistics on each opponent. RAIDING ------- When you raid another noble's castle, or if you try to rescue a maiden, be prepared to do some fencing. You and your second-in-command will sneak into the enemy castle, and melee with the castle guard in the courtyard. One guard will take you on, one will take on your opponent. Move the mouse right or left to move the fencer right or left. There is a spot in the middle which will keep your character stationary, but don't count on using it. Press the mouse button to extend your blade. Releasing it will return to en garde position. Waiting will bring your blade up in a defensive position. The key is to parry, by pushing the mouse button and holding it down; keep the guy your fighting in about the middle of screen. The only time you can hit is when they have their sword up. When you see their sword up, quickly let go of the button and then press it again (quickly) and hold it. Finish off the guard who attacks you quickly, pushing him towards the left end of the courtyard. Every hit he scores on you, and every hit SCORED ON YOUR BACKUP will remove one of your "hit points", measured on a grey bar at the bottom left of the screen. The bottom right holds your opponent's score. When you kill your guard, no more touches on your backup will be scored against you, and he will continue to engage the remaining guard as you sneak into the castle proper. Once inside, you will be face-to-face with the captain of the guard. You shadow flickers on the back wall as he advances down a short flight of step to assault you. Hurry up and meet him on the bottom step, and push him back up the stairs and kill him. Now the part you've been waiting for. How do you kill the guards? It's simple, if you know the trick. I keep pushing forward, attacking every 1/4 of a second, with a 1/4 second break after every third attack. Count "LEX-I-CON" in your mind, and break after each "CON", if you want to do as I do. You will loose one hit point for about every two that your opponent looses. Keep up the attacks with regularity, or you will probably get captured. Once you kill the second guard, you will advance into the treasury of the castle and loot it, taking 1/2 of the castle's assets. If you are attempting a rescue rather than a raid, there is a different outcome. Some time early in the game, if your allies have not been killed off yet, you will be given a chance to rescue the ward of one of the other two Saxons. This is a regular fencing battle, as described above, except the prize is a romantic interlude (with pretty good graphics) of the maiden falling in love with your character, and eventually, marrying. This is a good thing, because the maiden's guardian will be so indebted to you, that he will turn over all of his lands to you, which is very advantageous strategically. You will see the icon of your wife on the right side of the map from now on. CASTLE SIEGE ------------ You must buy a catapult and TRANSFER IT TO YOUR CAMPAIGN ARMY before you can attack a territory occupied by a castle. To begin the siege simply choose your ammunition. But remember, you must first knock a hole in the wall with a BOULDER before you can launch DISEASE into the castle. Push and hold the mouse button to pull back the catapult arm (the arm moves back automatically). Then release the button to fire. The farther the arm is pulled back the farther the object will travel; aim for the top of the wall first, then lower your aim to destroy it piece by piece. An undamaged castle nearly doubles the defending army's effectiveness in the battle following the siege. The advantage decreases proportionally with each hit to the wall. Select BEGIN BATTLE if you want to end the siege early. NOTE: The battle will begin automatically after 7 days. To completely knock the wall down you must hit it with a boulder 6 times in a row. Hint: Disease should be launched through a hole in the wall while Greek fire should be aimed at the second story window. Disease is more effective when launched early in the siege. Boulders - Used for knocking holes in the outer wall, thus reducing the defensive effectiveness of the castle. Greek Fire - Used to torch the tower. Kills about 10% of enemy forces. Disease - Toss this through a hole you've knocked with boulders in the wall. This will make the enemy sick, and kill about 20% of his remaining soldiers and knights. As always, the control is the mouse, but this time, just the button. Push and hold the button in and the catapult will crank backwards. There are some handy markers on the catapult rope, which will help you lob the cargo at the right place. Releasing the button throws the projectile at the target. Below, I will give a diagram of how far to pull the catapult back for using each type of weapon. Usually, you should watch the rope carefully, and release the button as the notch BEFORE your target notch is covered up. Top of 'pult === - = ___ Lob fire from here. - - ___ Throw first boulder here. = ___ 2nd, 3rd boulders, Disease. - ___ 4th, 5th boulders - = - - = - - = === === Bottom In other words, pull the catapult back until only the top notch on the rope is showing to throw fire. Pull it back until the second notch is covered to throw your first boulder, and second notch uncovered for your second and third boulders. After you've tossed a couple boulders at the wall (and hit), you can toss your disease ammo in (historically, these "care packages" contained sewage and corpses). It is usually best to knock a few holes in the wall, throw in the disease, throw in a fire, and then knock a few more holes in the wall. If you don't knock any holes, the enemy will be well-fortified and you may see your superior force cut to ribbons. If there is only one soldier guarding the fort, don't bother with using the catapult, but just go directly to "Start the Battle". Listen for the catapult to click back 10 times, then release the mouse button. Next you have to pull it back 9 times. The wall will be partially dented, not a full dent like when you pulled it back 10 times. This partial dent means you have to pull it back 9 again. After you get two chunks out of the wall, throw a disease in at 9, it will wipe out most of the enemys knights and half of his soldiers. TACTICS: If you meet the enemy in the field, keep tight control of your men -- issuing the correct orders at the proper time is the key to success as a general. Attacking with ferocity is a gamble. It can save the day that appears to be lost, but in can also be the undoing of a great army that might have won with a more conservative approach. Also, know when to give up the field. Dishonor is preferable to the death of your last Knight. VASSALS: Each territory in your domain contrubutes vassals to your army when you begin a campaign. They will fight with valor, but can't be expected to stick around for extended campaigns. Desertions begin to mount as one battle follows another. After you return from a campaign, the ranks of your vassals -- depleted by combat and desertions -- will be replenished over time. THE MEN OF SHERWOOD: Embarking on an important campaign may bring Locksley's promise to mind. He pledged his aid three times in your quest to restore the kingdom to Saxon rule. If you wish to seek his help in the campaign, go to Sherwood before marching on any territories. The men or Sherwood will join your ranks and your army will be formidable, indeed. FROM WARWOLF TO GREEK FIRE Castles were built to be impregnable, and there are many examples of tiny garrisons holding out against large armies for months on end. Capturing a castle required a great deal of preperation, including the construction of great siege towers and stone throwing engines to bombard the castle walls. The catapult, or mangonel, was probably the most common of these and was very much a standard feature of siege warfare. The larger catapults could hurl stones weiging up to 600 pounds. The owners of giant siege engines were fond of giving them nicknames -- in 1304, a stone-throwing device known as warwolf was used at the battle of Stirling. Philip Augustus, a worlord who preyed on the luckless king John called his favorite siege weapon Mal Voisin (which means Bad Neighbor). Ammunition for catapults was by no means limited to stone balls. Greek fire was the secret weapon of the period -- Thought to have been mixed from ingredients like oil, pitch, resin, sulfur and quicklime, it started fires that could not be extinguished with water alone. In a siege, almost anything was fair game for hurling over a castle's walls, including diseased meat. Many an attacker loaded his catapult with a dead horse, hoping the projectile would spread disease among the defenders. BATTLE ------ When you enter into battle with an opponent, you will be shown a battleground with your forces dressed in blue standing on the left side of the screen, with the enemy's red forces on the right side. Your soldiers will be lined up in front, and your knights behind. The larger the forces, the more characters are shown on the screen. Click on the battle options to change tactics during the fight. Your tactic determines how both armies fight. Knights outlast soldiers and provide your striking power - avoid losing them at all costs. The battle will proceed on its own but you may speed up the action by repeatedly clicking the mouse button on a tactic. * Leadership can turn the tide of a battle. A strong leader increases an army's effectiveness while a weak leader has no effect. You can increase your chances in battle by jousting to improve your leadership rating. * Raiding is a good way to weaken a stronger opponent, especially in the later stages of a game. Try to steal his gold with a raid--immediately after he attacks you. Stand and Fight: do this when you have equal or slightly superior forces. You just hack at each other until you change tactics. Knight Charge: Your knights will charge the enemy lines and do a lot of damage. Make sure you have more knights than your enemy before you do this, and you can do A LOT of damage. Outflank Enemy: If you have superior forces (about 130% to 150%+ of the enemy), you should use this tactic. This surrounds your enemy, and they lose soldiers quickly this way. Doubles the effect of leadership. Catapult Attack: If the enemy is in a castle, you can lob rocks at them and make them easier to hit. If you're on a field, you can throw fire into their masses and do some damage. Your defense goes down when you use the catapult, and you can take a nice loss. Defensive Hold: Not aggressive. You sit there and let the enemy attack you. This is best to use when you're in a castle, or have lesser numbers and want to do as much damage as possible before you die. Wild Retreat: Your forces run for it. Do this if you are up against insurmountable odds, and want to save some of your army. If you've got superior forces of soldiers, use flank attacks and standing attacks. If you've got more soldiers and some knights to boot, do flank attacks and knight charges. You can decimate an enemy easily this way. If the enemy is obviously going to slaughter you (or is already doing so), give it up. Do a wild retreat, and save some forces. STRATEGY -------- This is what will win the game for you. The strategic aspect. When playing to win the game quickly and easily, don't worry about jousting and raiding castles, but simply take over as much land as you possibly can. Use Sir Cedric of Rotherwood or Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe for their leadership abilities. In all cases, it is best to put all of your initial soldiers into your army, and go out in search of land. As you take over more land, you'll get more soldiers, and money to boot. Once all the free land is taken, or if an enemy (not an ally.. they won't attack you unless you box them in so they can't attack an enemy) gets close, spend all of your collected cash on foot troops, and buy a catapult soon too. Don't worry about knights yet. Print out this file, or at least the statistics at the end, and also print out the SHR picture: DOTC.MAP, which will show the various provinces as you see them on the screen, with the addition of their gold and vassal values and names. If you start in the province of Cumbria (dark blue, uppermost castle) you should immediately move your forces to Lancashire to the south, and the next turn, to Yorkshire at your northwest. From there, battles will begin forming, and you should prepare to help medium blue fight off yellow and orange attackers if they get too close. If you start in Nottingham (medium blue), in the middle of the map south of Sherwood Forest, you should go for Lancashire (northeast) first, then Leicestor (directly south of Nottingham) then Linconshire (coastal shire to the west), if Dark Blue doesn't have it yet. From there, you'll have to be ready to fight off orange and brown attacks on Leicestor, and yellow attacks on Linconshire. It's best to let dark blue get Linconshire and fight Yellow for a little while, while you build up troops, then go in and take it from Yellow. If you start off in Clwyd (light blue, east England), you should take your forces to Gloucestor (southwest) first, then to Gwynedd (northeast), then on to Glamorgan, then get your forces back home. You will lose Gloucestor quickly, as it will be a big target for both Orange and Brown, and ultimately, this is the key land in the early game. Build up your army, then attack Gloucestor after Orange and Brown have wasted most of their armies taking it from one another. From here, you will have to watch what is going on to decide what to do. It is nice to take territories that give a lot of gold and vassals, but more important is keeping a defensible empire together. Do not have lands way out in the middle of enemy territory you can't more troops to quickly. Keep your allies above water. If they're threatened by a big force, strike at some of the attacking force's undefended territories. As soon as you can, pick up a catapult. When you get enough forces, and some land near an enemy stronghold, go in for the kill. Get Robin's help if they have a lot of forces. Attack the stronghold, and if it falls, all of the enemy's lands become yours. If an ally of yours attacks you, gather a nice force together and enter his lands. Keep asking for safe passage until you get to his stronghold, and take it over. You'll get all the traitor's lands. It is best to take out an enemy castle early in the game, just to make it easier on yourself later. Early in the game, the computer does not defend its castles very well. As far as forces go, in the early game, build up on foot soldiers. If you can get a lot of foot soldiers, you can always do flanking attacks on the enemy and win nearly every battle. When you've got a sizable empire, but have enemies attacking in multiple places, start building castles. Building a castle in an internal (non-border) territory is a waste of 20 gold. Build a castle on a piece of land which is often under attack (like Gloucestor, Cambridge, or Linconshire) and station a large garrison there. 30 soldiers will hold most things in the early game, move it up to 50, 70, and 100 as the game progresses and the attacks on it become larger. When you have castles, you can station large forces there, and have your army elsewhere for land acquisition or defense. As the game gets long, and you're down to about 3 or 4 players, your borders are relatively safe, and you're making some good gold, start investing in knights. A good-sized troupe of knights will steamroll forces of up to 10 times their size. It's good to carry along at least one foot soldier for every three knights later on, for protection. To get ahead fast in the game, take over enemy strongholds, and gain all their lands. It will be hard when they are in the middle of a bunch of minor castles, so try to hit one up early in the game. Go for Yellow or Orange, because Brown is too tough to get, and is usually the last enemy you have to kill. One underhanded tactic is to help your allies along, then backstab them and steal their lands. It works, but it isn't very chivalrous. STATISTICS ---------- Character Name Race Leadership Fencing Jousting Total -------------- ---- ---------- ---------- --------- ----- Sir Geoffry Longsword Saxon ****** ********* ****** 21 Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe Saxon ******** ****** ******** 22 Sir Cedric of Rotherwood Saxon ********* *** ******** 20 Sir Wolfric the Wild Saxon ****** ****** ********* 21 Sir Roger of Falconbridge Norman ***** ********** ******* 22 Sir Edmund the Grim Norman ******** ********* ******** 25 Sir Reginald Front-de-Boeof Norman ******* ****** ******** 21 Sir Phillip Malvoisin Norman ********** ******** ***** 23 Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert Norman ******** ******** ********** 26 Territory Name Income Vassals Strategic Location -------------- -------- ------------ --------- -------- Cumbria *** zero * North-NE Yorkshire ** ****** *** North-NW Lancashire **** ****** ** NorthEast Nottingham ** zero *** North Linconshire *** ****** **** Northwest Gwynedd ** **** * Far East Clwyd *** zero *** East Leicestor ** ***** **** Centre Cambridge ***** ****** ***** West Norfolk ****** zero ** Far West Glamorgan * **** * East-SE Gloucestor ******* ************ ***** SouthEast Buckingham ******** zero **** South Essex ****** ******** *** SouthWest Cornwall ******** zero * Far Southeast Dorset **** ****** * South-SE Hampshire *** ******** *** South-SW Sussex ******* ******** * Far SouthWest