First thing, thank you for even take a look at this section because this is my first map I ever created (I did some more but this is the first one of which I think is worth being shown here). Despite that I put a lot of work in it so hope you like it.
Now for the historical information:
Egmond was in medieval Holland one of most important castles before the Vikings showed their ugly faces on the continent. Count Dirk, the first Count of Egmond, was famous for beating the army of the Holy Roman Empire when he raised taxes for passing through his country. My scenario is 50/50 based on that battle but the castle was burned down by the Spanians in the Eighty Years war, so that no-one really knows how it looked like, cause only some stone remain. Another thing were Egmond is famous for is it's abbey, which was also destroyed by Spanians, but rebuild after WW2. The Abbey does exist in this scenario but as I don't fancy modding things it's a little smaller than it really is.
I hope you enjoy this scenario and I hope you give me some critics so that I know what to do in my next scenario.
Battle of Egmond is an interesting map. The fortifications, with towers, gates and walls of both wood and stone, are spread out over a convoluted waterfront terrain. I had to study the map for a while before deciding how I might go about an attack or how I might prepare a defense. Emerton also provides some nice background history on the actual map as well as an interesting story to go along with the scenario.
Unfortunately this scenario has problems with balance. The introduction seems to indicate that you are to play the defending position. I began this way and found I fairly easily achieved victory on my first attempt. Because of the spread-out nature of the fortifications, the computer-controlled attacking forces were distributed over many points that were not strategic to gaining the keep. Many crossbowmen are also pre-positioned on outer walls and made mincemeat of the macemen and lightly armored attacking units.
As a test, I played the defending position a second time but kept hands off and just watched the action. I still came out "victorious", without human intervention.
The map is better balanced as an attacking siege. Playing attacker I had to make several starts before I hit upon a winning strategy but still lost about three-quarters of my troops in the process of gaining victory. Still there are some problems with defending troops that seem to be set to a defensive stance when they should be agressive (e.g. the knights in front of the walls). I am not a very strong player in attacking sieges; experienced players would probably want to start this on a HARD setting.
I am giving the scenario a 3 for balance based on attacking as it is not currently set up properly to play defending.
If this is to be played as a defending siege, I encourage Emerton to modify (reduce) defending troop strengths, especially the crossbowmen. Also, rather than having all the defenders in position on the walls and towers, begin some of them at muster points within the castle and leave it to the player to decide where to position them. You may also have to increase the numbers of attackers to compensate for the distributed and complex nature of the fortifications.
Emerton - this is a fine start for your first uploaded map. Keep producing interesting maps and stories like this one but take time to test them carefully. They should be challenging enough so that the average player probably won't win on the first few attempts. I look forward to seeing more of your creations on StrongHold Heaven.