Fighting in narrow areas
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Fighting in narrow areas
Narrow lanes, mostly in a cave, can easily stop your progress and thus make the mission more difficult. Howewer, these may serve as a perfect defensive - delaying post . In this case it´s very important to have some shocktroopers (or Iron Maulers) in your army.
I have encountered this situation for first time in "Sewers of South Bay" in Haldric´s campaign The Rise of Wesnoth:
I went with my army to the north, where was the first archmage. I also placed two shocktroopers (Eldaric´s Guards) to block the lane north from my camp, preventing the second archmage from attacking my forces from behind. Meanwhile I successfully defeated the first mage, and continued along the northern path to the exit of the sewers, while my reliable shocktroopers were still blocking the important lane.
Nowadays I am playing the mission "The trollish hole" (one of the Kalian misions) and it seems I will have to use the same tactic as in the sewers:
There are four entrances to the caves from the stronghold. I have two Iron Maulers, so I will place them closely to the two entrances and if the trolls eventually attack, they won´t break through. My plan is to bypass the fighting trolls with the rest of my army and then wipe their leaders.
If I am wrong, please let me know.
I have encountered this situation for first time in "Sewers of South Bay" in Haldric´s campaign The Rise of Wesnoth:
I went with my army to the north, where was the first archmage. I also placed two shocktroopers (Eldaric´s Guards) to block the lane north from my camp, preventing the second archmage from attacking my forces from behind. Meanwhile I successfully defeated the first mage, and continued along the northern path to the exit of the sewers, while my reliable shocktroopers were still blocking the important lane.
Nowadays I am playing the mission "The trollish hole" (one of the Kalian misions) and it seems I will have to use the same tactic as in the sewers:
There are four entrances to the caves from the stronghold. I have two Iron Maulers, so I will place them closely to the two entrances and if the trolls eventually attack, they won´t break through. My plan is to bypass the fighting trolls with the rest of my army and then wipe their leaders.
If I am wrong, please let me know.
Blocking tricks like that can work well if the terrain is right.
I used it in the sceptre of fire mission in Heir to the Throne - send Konrad one way, Lisar the other, and block off any other approaches with guardsmen backed up by shydes.
Another case of this working - and the limitations of it, though, is the slabstone delta MP map. Both sides of the map contain cave areas, each of which has two villages in it - and which can only be approached via single-hex corridors - and both entrances to the cave area contain castle hexes letting you defend it very good (especially if you have units with decent cave defense, since you can then sit on the last cave hex, and anyone wanting to come in has to engage you from the water.)
Keep in mind, though, that in most cases your units will have poor defense on cave terrain. While this doesn't affect some units too badly (such as guardsmen and shock troops which have high resistances and lower defenses to start) it can mean that you either want to minimize the number of attacks your troops receive, or have reserve troops on hand because that troll warrior has a much better both hits in if you are in a cave than if you are in a forest...
I used it in the sceptre of fire mission in Heir to the Throne - send Konrad one way, Lisar the other, and block off any other approaches with guardsmen backed up by shydes.
Another case of this working - and the limitations of it, though, is the slabstone delta MP map. Both sides of the map contain cave areas, each of which has two villages in it - and which can only be approached via single-hex corridors - and both entrances to the cave area contain castle hexes letting you defend it very good (especially if you have units with decent cave defense, since you can then sit on the last cave hex, and anyone wanting to come in has to engage you from the water.)
Keep in mind, though, that in most cases your units will have poor defense on cave terrain. While this doesn't affect some units too badly (such as guardsmen and shock troops which have high resistances and lower defenses to start) it can mean that you either want to minimize the number of attacks your troops receive, or have reserve troops on hand because that troll warrior has a much better both hits in if you are in a cave than if you are in a forest...