You had arrested the greedy Pig in your castle by the sea. You got the order to produce some weapons to support the war against the riots of the kingdom. The land gives you some space to planting farms but they´re no iron resources - you have to make money to buy some and you need more money for supporting the kingdom.
The Wolfe will try to free his fellow the Pig and disturb your weaponproduction. Watch out and beware of the evil Wolfe...
Playability: 3.5
This map centres around generating gold and manufacturing weapons in fairly large quantities. You start with a pre-built castle and a few building structures, with the first few years of the game focused on setting up a good food chain. The invasions are relatively small and can be easily defended against. Whilst these are part of the storyline, they aren't of a sufficient size to really trouble you and I spent the vast majority of the game solely focused on weapons production. There are plenty of reoccurring events to cause a few headaches and to add to the challenge of meeting the economic goals. However, the pre-built castle detracts from the playability somewhat and whilst everything works in the way it should, it isn't too difficult to play or to eventually win. Generating gold is probably the hardest challenge as although you have a few items in the marketplace you can trade, I met the weapons requirement (and the religious coverage) long before I had gathered all the gold. A good map to play at a steady pace, but not quite enough to do to really excite.
Balance: 3.5
As above, the invasions aren't strong enough or frequent enough to trouble. The task of manufacturing weapons is rather onerous although I did like the fact that you had to buy all of the iron needed to make swords, armour and maces. growing hops to make ale and have a healthy popularity bonus is important here as you can offset this to tax the people quite heavily, especially with extra rations at the granary if you have a solid bread production system in place. A good effort from the designer, and the map isn't a walkover, but needs something more demanding to elevate this score any higher.
Creativity: 3
The scenario takes the form of a standard economic map. As commented on above, I did like the need to buy in all iron to allow the weapons to be manufactured. The scenario doesn't contain anything intrinsically diferent, unique or special, but it is a solid enough scenario which is well made and concentrates on the basics of good map design. A commendale effort.
Map Design: 3
Quite functional. The landscape can support a large number of farms, although the terrain is modelled to restrict easy placement of ridiculous numbers of farms. A hilly, rocky landscape adds a sense of mood to proceedings. The castle contains a couple of nice tricks in the design. An average score, but a good attempt nonetheless.
Story/Instructions: 2
The story is clear enough and you are in no doubt what you need to do in order to win. It is, however, very short and to the point, with no further notes or articles to support the scenario. Desperately needs a more expansive storyline and more content.
Additional Comments:
A good map in itself, suited to those who prefer a more relaxed approach to scenarios. Definitely worth a play, regardless of the average score.