The key to earning Simyr is to lure the Orcish leader, Mokolo Qimur, from his fortress at the end of turn 7 or turn 8, remembering that turns 8 and 9 enjoy daylight at
Blackwater Port. Of course, Mokolo does not like to come out into the open. However, careful examination of the map discovers a village southeast of Mokolo's fortress, a village Mokolo can reach from his fortress in a single turn. Mokolo does not mind going there. That is where you should lure him.
One lures Mokolo with bait. Place a unit you don't mind losing in the woods next to the village. Mokolo will usually come to attack the unit, after which you can kill him, or surround and kill him.
Details:
- Haldiel: During turns 1 and 2, send Haldiel westward to capture two villages. Neither the western terrain nor the approaching night however is favorable to Haldiel. Therefore, from turn 3, pull Haldiel eastward to safety, planning to throw him into action on the northeastern plains during the next day's daylit turns 8 and 9.
- Delfador: Delfador is to lead your western strike force. During turn 1 however, he has some time, so let him capture the nearby village northwest of Konrad's camp.
- Konrad: Konrad is to lead an eastern company. During turns 1 and 2 however, he must remain near camp. Let Konrad recall and recruit Delfador's western strike force during turn 1. The next turn, let Konrad recall and recruit the eastern company. Place a full six units during turn 1, then as many as you can afford during turn 2.
- Neither recall nor recruit units after turn 2. Delfador's western strike force and Konrad's eastern company suffice.
- During turn 1, as part of Delfador's western strike force, recall a unit like a marksman or sorceress (or an archer or shaman almost ready to promote to a marksman or a sorceress). Though not absolutely necessary, such a unit markedly improves your odds because it can hit Mokolo under cover.
- Not necessary but desirable: If you have a quick scout (you do, don't you? http://forum.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?t=39408), then recall him during turn 1, too. Place him northeast of Konrad, whence he can run north to capture six villages during turns 2 through 7. Unlike your other turn-1 recalls and recruits, the scout belongs to Konrad's eastern company, which the scout can help during turns 8 and 9; but through turn 7, the scout's sole mission is to hoist Konrad's red flag over Sir Kaylan's northeastern villages as fast as he can. (Don't let your quick scout be killed in any case. You will need him again during scenario 6, The Siege of Elensefar. Fortunately, the scout's mission at Blackwater Port is pretty safe.)
- You can recruit a horseman during turn 1 to capture the village southwest of Konrad's camp during turn 2. If you do, this horseman joins Delfador's western strike force; and you should not expect him to survive. However, if you are short of gold, you need not recruit any horseman at all. You have Haldiel and hope soon to have Simyr, after all. One of Delfador's recruits, preferably a quick one you wouldn't mind losing, can turn aside during turn 3 to capture the village in question if no horseman is available. Alternately, Haldiel can capture the village on his way eastward, turn 4.
- After placing a full six units during turn 1, try to place at least four during turn 2. If you can afford only three, then Konrad's eastern company will be less effective. Therefore, if forgoing the horseman during turn 1 lets you afford that fourth unit during turn 2, then consider forgoing the horseman.
- Note that Blackwater Port is probably a better scenario to recruit fighters than is The Elves Beseiged, due to the terrain that obtains in each scenario. Therefore, try to recruit at least one strong fighter at Blackwater, try to get this fighter some experience if you can, and try not to get him killed.
- At the end of turn 1, Konrad has some time, so send him then to capture the village in the far southeast.
- From turn 2, send Delfador and his western strike force toward the woods in the map's southwestern corner.
By the start of turn 3, all your units (except of course Simyr) are on the map and in play. The eastern company is just leaving camp. The western strike force has already moved west and a little south, angling toward the far southwestern forest, under whose boughs it means to shelter during the night.
The woods in the center of the map are tempting terrain, but after many tries I have now come to feel that they are not a good position for Konrad's eastern company. There are two-and-a-half reasons for this. First, orcish forces can reach the central woods by nightfall, hammering Konrad's eastern company there all night. Second, the central woods stand too far from Sir Kaylan's allied forces. The half reason is that the central woods contain not only woods but hills, too, which is terrain orcs like. Better is for the eastern company to move northward into the open, hovering just out of range of orcish movement. If Konrad has a fighter he doesn't mind losing, he can dispatch the fighter forward to hold the village on the coast. The fighter will die, but while dying will wound orcs which Konrad may later personally kill during daylit turns 8 and 9.
The western strike force wants to hide until dawn, turn 7. It will probably be impracticable to keep the entire western strike force out of range of all enemy units at every moment, but experience suggests that most orcs that cannot immediately attack the western strike force will ignore it, instead marching east to engage Konrad. This is what you want. If four orcs or so turn southward, Delfador and his troops can handle these few even at night; but six southward orcs will be hard to handle and seven spell doom. Let the western strike force therefore await dawn inconspicuously out of range under the trees. (One tactic that seems to confuse the western orcs is to let one fighter or shaman linger a turn or two to defend the south-central village -- that is, the village just to the east of the long, thin hedge of woods that extends southward from the central forest. Alternately, you can defend the village a little further west, on the east eave of the southwestern woods. Maybe you can even defend both villages briefly. The defender or defenders will probably survive and even remain mobile, and they may draw off an orc or two that would otherwise have concentrated against Delfador's crucial position in the southwest. Even if they draw off no orcs, they will still be close enough to advance toward Mokolo Qimur's baited village at dawn.)
At dawn, turn 7, let Delfador and his best unit or two move quickly northward toward Mokolo Qimur's position. Take care not to let Delfador and his best unit be surrounded or immobilized. Use your other western units to screen off and/or destroy orcs that might otherwise impede Delfador's strike.
Starting in the morning, turn 8, let Konrad attack hard in the east. With Sir Kaylan's help, Konrad's eastern company is stronger than the orcs and can defeat them in daylight, earning valuable experience -- especially experience for Konrad personally and for Haldiel.
In the west, look for a chance to bait Mokolo to the aforementioned village, southeast of his fortress. Place one, expendable unit in the woods next to the village. Mokolo likes that village position, so he will probably come. Kill him there during turn 8 or turn 9.
It is possible, though not probable, that Mokolo will forgo the bait, or that you will be unable to maneuver the bait into position. In this case, admittedly, your position becomes desperate. You may be able to attack Mokolo in his fortress, but orcs tend to screen the way, slowing Delfador's advance. Besides, if you wound Mokolo in his fortress during turn 8, he can retreat out of reach to the north, leaving Delfador unable to finish the job during turn 9. Fortunately however, experience suggests that the bait will probably work.
Remember:
- Mokolo is a level-2 unit whose death yields 16 experience points. If you can, try to give these points to some unit other than Delfador, who does not need them.
- Remember also that Mokolo's death immediately ends the scenario. On the last turn therefore, attack in the east first, then the west after. Attacking in the west first forfeits valuable experience your units, especially Konrad, might have earned during the last turn in the east.
Admittedly, even if you do everything right, much still depends on your luck, not during the entire scenario or over the whole map, but specifically in the west during the final strike, on the scenario's last turn. You will very probably need two things to go your way. Second, you will need Delfador and his best unit to hit Mokolo; but first, you will need the rest of the western strike force to destroy whatever orc or orcs happen to screen the way to Mokolo at the crucial moment. The AI is not very good at screening, of course, but even a couple of wounded orcs wandering randomly about can delay Delfador disastrously, right when it matters. The most that can be said is that the odds run clearly in your favor once Mokolo has taken the bait, but when it comes down to a single turn as this strategy will likely do, there are no guarantees.
Such is the strategy. Of course, like any good strategy, this one must be adapted by you to whatever peculiar circumstances might arise during your particular attempt at the scenario. Sufficiently bad luck can defeat the strategy in any case, but, with this strategy, experience seems to suggest that merely average luck is good enough to bait Mokolo Qimur from his fortress, kill him, and thus add the valuable Simyr to your recall roll.