Stronghold Heaven

Jerusalem, retaking the Holy City

Objectives

‘This is the final assault. Jerusalem’s best defence is its immense city walls, the weakest point being the northeast section. Once the walls have been broken down the Europeans are likely to surrender.’

Resources

Notes

On to the final mission of Saladin’s Conquest. This is perhaps the trickiest of them all and the key here is simply to achieve a good start. There seems to be only one approach here – protect your fire ballista at all costs. I generally grouped all of my troops in one tight formation where they are initially located, but moved my fire throwers to the back of the assembly. They can, and will, try to protect you but will also set fire to your own troops. The swordsmen and assassins you start off with are to be positioned at the front of your troops. Wait for the European knights to come to you – they will generally be cut down by the fire ballista and if not, the Arabian swordsmen will finish them off.

It is possible to progress with this map with one fire ballista and one Arabian swordsman, but it is much easier with some resemblance of a force. With all the European knights killed, you have breathing space, and only once they have been dispatched should you consider your assault on Jerusalem.

There is an area of relatively thin walling to the far north of the map, right on the edge of the playing field. This area seems to be the best place to start. Move all your troops to this area. Start by using assassins to take out as many of the archers and crossbowmen as possible in the perimeter towers. This will undoubtedly make your job easier. Break through the city walls and begin to burn as many buildings as possible. Ideally, destroying the three wells in the city would allow the place to burn but they seemed to be a little too well defended. I moved my archers onto the walls and began to pick off the macemen stationed inside the city walls by the main gatehouse. With buildings burning, some of the European troops were caught up in the flames. Moving steadily north to south, the fire ballista were targeted on the swordsmen and macemen on top of the enemy keep. I had 7 of the 8 I started with, and this really sped things up. From here it’s a case of targeting any remaining archers and knights around the city, as all troops need to be killed. My fire throwers were sent around the city to burn down any remaining buildings, as they weren’t of much use to me by this point.

With no fire ballista, your mission will be extremely difficult, though not impossible. Start well, and victory should be yours!

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