You are Captain Philippe de Lichtenau, Imperial officer commanding the garrison at fortress Haut-Koenigsburg. You are standing at the pinnacle of the keep hundreds of meters above the valley floor far below.
Many times before, you have climbed to this spot at the first light of dawn. In the early hours you have paused to gaze across to distant mountains and valleys and savor a moment of peace before the business of the day. Often here your thoughts have turned to the wife and children you have not seen now for many months. Often too you have paused here in silent prayer seeking inspiration and strength from the Almighty and, by His will, a safe return home at the end of your commission.
This day is different. Your eyes and thoughts are not cast afar but focused in on the nearby hillsides. The dawn light reveals the siege works and fortifications of your enemy, the Wolf. Just beyond range of your crossbows he waits and prepares. You can see his campfires and the glint of steel from the swords of his sentries. The course voices of his soldiers come drifting up on the breeze.
Haut-Koenigsburg has been under blockade for two weeks. The main road cut. But you have not been caught by surprise. Weapons and stocks of food have been laid in. And the fortress is nearly impregnable. They will pay dearly with their blood in their attempt to take the stronghold. Ten lives to one they will die! Even twenty of the enemy will perish here on this mountain for every brave defender who falls! They will not take Haut-Koenigsburg, they must not! And you will live to see your dear ones again.
***Your Mission***
Relive the Siege of 1633. Command your troops, defend the fortress, repel the invaders and kill the Wolf.
***Brief Design notes***
The idea for this map began in February 2004 when I had the opportunity to visit Haut-Koenigsburg while on a work related trip to France. As I walked through this amazing fortress I tried to imagine what it would have been like to live here, fight here, and die here.
***Playing the Game***
Playing on NORMAL will provide a good challenge for average players. Experienced players may want to try HARD. Victory can be achieved in three ways:
1) No more enemy or invasions or
2) Killing the Wolf (this will not work prior to January 1638) or
3) Holding out until January 1640.
This scenario moves along fairly quickly and you should be either victorious or defeated in not much more than five game years.
Please READ the DETAILED NOTES included with the download.
I hope you will enjoy this scenario as you play through a little piece of European history. Your comments and reviews are always appreciated.
Special thanks to Jax Omen and Jesster15 who playtested this map and provided most helpful feedback.
Bismuth
++++++++++++
Revision 5/12/04 Replaced MS Word (doc) file with Acrobat (pdf) file.
Revision 5/13/04 I have made a few small changes to one of the final invasions to increase the difficulty of the scenario.
Playability: 4+/5
Very playable. A worthy download. It gives the feeling of a proper siege. The small number of your own melee troops makes first time play a little disorientating trying to find all of the troops, which is what makes this scenario just miss out on the 5. But its fun and not too easy.
Balance: 4+/5
This map has a good balance. Easy is easy, normal is a challenge. Just not quite a 5.
Creativity: 5/5
This map is a good idea as the origional HK wasn't brilliant. No new ideas, but the fact is that the old ideas were brought together well, and that is the most important thing. (Which is why I'm being kind and giving a 5!).
Map Design: 5/5
Some people are very fussy about new eye-candy. But why deny a 5 to a stunning map because the author hasen't invented anything new? The landscaping is excellent, and the castle is very good. Eye candy is used sparingly which makes it stand out more and doesn't clutter the map. A lot of time has been spent in this area and the map shows it.
Story/ Instructions: lets see........oh yeah 5/5
Why 5? Why 5? This is one of the most jam packed zip files on HG, full of instructions hints and pictures. Well researched and they add a lot of depth to the story. Reading the info included is advised as the in-game instructions is only a very brief summary of the full instructions (not that this is a bad thing).
Overall:
This map is better than the origional Firefly Studios version! Well worth downloading (don't let the size put you off) Not really anything I would change on this map.
Good historical castle, should have been included with the origional game! Well Done!