In 1016, a rebel Lombard lord appealed to a group of pilgrims for help-and unwittingly set in motion "the other Norman Conquest." The Normans in the South is the story of the House of Hauteville: of Robert Guiscard.His brother Roger, who helped him win Sicily from the Saracens; and his nephew Roger II, crowned at Palermo.
The Norman revolt against the Byzantine empire...
The year is 1048 AD.You are Robert Guiscar and you are fighting for the Vaeringer guard under command of your brother Drogo against the byzantine emperor.Your troops have landed in the Sicilian province of Enna.Your mission is to Lay siege on a Castle.You have to capture and hold the castle and survive untill 1170 AD.
Mission Objectives:Kill enemy Lord,200 bread,2000 gold.
When you start playing this interesting map your large army composed of many various military units is waiting for your instructions on the beach of a sandy bay. There is an enemy castle opposite to your starting position and it seems to impede all your cautious attempts to expand economically. The first game years, it’s rather difficult to stabilize food production, and you often have to activate the market purchasing different foodstuffs, also useful for a higher popularity.
At first, I tried to secure my position to guard my Lord against those repeating and bothering invasions, which might be a little bit harder in my opinion.
You have three basic objectives to fulfil here:
1. Withstand the hostile assaults taking place periodically.
2. Try to achieve the goal of 211 pieces of bread at all costs and simultaneously…
3. …conquer the castle and kill the enemy Lord.
Playability and balance generally are good, but there’s one little flaw I’d like to point to:
When you look into the editor, you’ll notice that there’s only one victory event set on January in 1200. This means that you will win at any case because there aren’t any defeat conditions or a time limit – necessary to end the game, if you wouldn’t be capable of completing all objectives right on time. For that reason, I suggest to define the victory settings much earlier, maybe in 1190 or so…and to add a time limit.
Creativity is solid and nothing is outstanding here, I think it is worth for an average mark.
Map Design is convincing and the landscape is well modelled. Especially I enjoyed playing this specific small map with limited space testing my skill to a high degree. By the way, I liked using the secret passage leading to a small hole next to the eastern signpost where I was able to intercept some invaders.
The story is basic and brief, but it explains what the map is about. I don’t mind that the space of time in the story don’t correspond with the years in the game, but synchronizing the scripting would make it perfect. Maybe the mission objectives of bread and gold would need a short explanation.
In summary, I enjoyed this uncomplicated and “fresh” map by a new talented map designer, and I’m looking forward to see more of his creations.