Driven out of your home by the harsh winter, you arrive by sea at the Pig's manor. You decide to take refuge in some nearby ruins while waiting for reports of the surrounding terrain.
After some scouts return, they report that the Pig's forces are not strong here. Also, they report some friendly, oppressed monks are in the area. Liberate them before moving in and enlist their help in taking the castle, or just settle matters yourself.
After capturing the castle, prepare to go farther inland. You need to obtain some swords and sets of armor. Obviously, it will take some time to gather your forces, so you cannot immediately continue inlead after obtaining the required goods. Don't just stand there; move! The Wolf has been sending scouts, and will be sure to amass an enormous army to attack you if you delay.
I hope you have as much fun playing as I did creating!
Playability: 4
Very playable. There are a number of different ways to approach the castle, first to attack it then to defend it.
Balance: 3
I have to say I found it very easy, even on Hard setting. One of 3 solutions might help: better defences for the initial siege (or less blue attackers), bigger and more frequent invasions plus a more involved Win goal. Or limited resources or Trader capabilities. Since you can build nearly unlimited Blacksmiths and Armourers, the goal can be reached extremely fast. I simply knocked down all the unnecessary structures and sold the stone and reused the wood. I reached the Armour/Sword goal in less than a year. Also, I'd suggest perhaps making it harder to 'free' the Engineers so you can't use the catapult so quickly. Maybe you could defend their pen, like a prison situation, adding another facet to the gameplay. Getting them so quickly allows you to knock down the main gate and get to the Lord with hardly any effort.
Creativity: 3
I liked the 'hidden' passages and the differing levels, as well as the scattering of the resources. The downside was that the remote industries and resources were not really necessary to win so you can just knock them down and concentrate on defending against a few macemen while quickly manufacturing the goal items. I'd suggest not allowing sale of Stone perhaps.
Map Design: 3
Adequate with some nice features, but not really finely detailed or imaginative. There is a lot of flat, unimproved grassland which gives sections an unfinished, unnatural look. The marshy area is nice and the areas around the Stronghold are more detailed, but pretty basic.
Story/Instructions: 4
Original and interesting.
Additional Comments:
While the design isn't a knockout, its a fun little combo siege/invasion/eco map that was worth a play. My subjective opinion is that it needs a little tweaking to be interesting and challanging enough to merit repeat plays.