This map was designed to be played at ‘hard’, but I’m sure it’s winnable on ‘very hard’ to.
The story:
"As you approach the damaged fort you manage to spot a few living people on the walls. When you come closer, you see that they are imperial troops. You quickly ask them what has happened, and then they start to tell:
“It all started when Duc Beauregard, the Snake, came to this land and rebuilt an ancient castle. A first he was friendly to our duke, Bruce, and us, but then he asked us to betray king and country and join him on his forthcoming campaign against the empire. When we told him that we would never support a traitor, he attacked us with the whole might of his armies, and nearly destroyed our fort. We eventually managed to drive him back, but with terrible casualties. The duke was one of them.
After the assault we sent out messengers to get reinforcements, but they have never returned. We fear the have been killed. Please sir, you must help us! This fort is on the route to the king’s castle and is vital to the Snake’s plans. If you help us defend this fort, the king will have time to raise an army and will most certainly be very grateful towards you.”
As noble as you are, you immediately decide to help the survivors, and start setting up a base to defend yourself from the forthcoming onslaught. Then you hear from the walls: “They’re back, we’re doomed!”"
playability: I rated this highly largely because of the need for good planning and execution early on in the scenario. Once you get past the first half of the scenario the challenge wears off.
balance: This scenario took me a few times through to eliminate weaknesses in the defenses so the balance is rated highly. However once a strategy is developed for defense this scenario becomes a sit and wait map especially for the last two or three invasions. More events to disrupt things would have been nice especially later on. More fires, wolves, plagues anything that would disrupt production and popularity would have made this better. Also some of the invasions could have been beefed up a little.
creativity: I did not see anything specifically that stood out. I did like the little group of enemies at the beginning. Also the partially destroyed towers and injured troops were a nice touch and fit the story.
map: the look of the map was a little disappointing. The stone in particular seemed just thrown in. Both the iron and the stone resources were in great big blocks. The elevations were also a little rough looking, just a little effort varying the elevations, smoothing some out and adding a few bits of rock and other editor extras would have made a big difference.
story: The idea of finding this nearly destroyed village and pitching in to help them withstand the snake was good but not noteworthy.
I enjoyd playing this map but a little more time making the map more natural and some additional challenges in the middle and at the end would have made this map better.