The Complete Walkthrough of Age of Wonders 2

JULIA 1: NORWOOD

Follow the road and take Okleaf. Then towards the field, getting the archer and the yeti. To the northeast are windmills and halflings. Make a group, then head west and storm the bridge. It shouldn't be too difficult if you put the yeti as your leader. Once you cross the bridge, follow the road. Oakrott will stop you and ask you to go south of his hometown. Since you need a city, do it. You will get a fairy. Send her west for the watchtower. Vorsav will burn the forest. See the magic part. It is difficult not because of the monsters, but because of the spells. Worst of all turns out to be ice storm magic, which can kill two or three of your infantry each round, and take half of your hero's life away. Start using the fairy to go around and use an attack group consisting of your hero and some infantry men to hit some not too difficult targets. Take possession of the mine and the tower, which are north of the windmills. A little further north, and then a little west of the windmills, there is a bridge. North-west of the bridge a stone, around the mountain. The goal is to take the shadow demon town to the northwest. For the city of Ubuk, head east of the water, then north to find an elven city. You can pay the guards. There is also a watchtower, and a water mill on the beach. Beyond the bay, a ship with a spider totem pole. This item gives your hero the "web" ability. To the south of the city of Ubuk is a druid, and to the west of this a quarry. Directly between them, a hidden elven city, namely Torfindel. The city is a good starting point for your plans. North of Torfindel there is another quarry, and in front of it some trees. Your research level should be fair at this point. Grab a Static Shield as soon as you can. If it's not on your list, take the cheapest spell and keep doing it until the option comes up. Vorsav may want to attack you. The best and cheapest units are archers, in case you want to defend a city. Have a couple of swordsmen defend the doors. Take care of the cavalry with your archers. If you have the "Regenerate Walls" spell, the battle is much easier. If all your attempts fail, put a fairy in the city to defend it. There are a couple of mines underground that you can make your own, and an unsupervised object near one of the entrances. If you build a "use" item and give it to Oakleaf, it can dig for a mine. You can use the quarry to access the northwestern region of the map, which is totally frozen. There is a city you can storm. From Mulhom, take the west quarry, through a tunnel, and you will find yourself in a village, owned by Vorsav. There is a tunnel nearby, attached to its main city. Vorsav will be a tough boss if you have a small group. Make sure Oakleaf is level 7 and has some magical items, and at least one static shield, or blessing. Alternatively, bring a good-sized army. Another thing to note: as soon as you get the better of it, take your time. All spells and abilities you research, every item you make, and all your hero's levels will remain as they are in the next scenario.

JULIA 2: MOUNT ABYDOR

Your hero will be quite powerful right now. You will start the level with no money, and no mana points. Take the watchtower to the north with the druid, and to the east with the iron maiden. You will notice that some gold is taken away from you every turn. This should make you understand that you should soon take over a mine. Use Oakleaf to do this, and get the Catalyst with the Iron Maiden. So let Oakleaf go into the mountains and the river to get another mine and some resources. Send the druid north to take life. South of the watchtower is another mine. Also take this with the iron maiden. Your goal in this scenario is to find the elf. Northeast of the life node that was taken by the druid you will see a strange valley with 3 magic points. Take some time to make them yours. Again, to the southwest, along the river, is a ship containing the Holy Platemail, which gives you +2 defense. South of the starting city, the map is mostly empty. You can get two water lilies from the dungeon if you want, or fight some battles, but it won't be very useful. As you head west through the swamp you will come across some demons and ruins, you have to kill them both. Make sure you are not killed due to the greater number of troops available to the enemy. If you're lucky, you can get the Gold Dragon spell from the Spirit of Order. In this case, you can start by taking the city of Sulkan and leaving a Gold Dragon to watch over it. Much of the western part of the map is a kind of maze of roads and mountains, filled with watchtowers. If you have windwalking available, or use a flying unit like a fairy, you can pass them in speed, but if you don't have them, you will have to go through the whole maze. To the northeast of the orc town is a shadow portal. Using it you will get to the shadow plane, but this section of the shadow plane contains only monsters, no treasures or cities, mines, etc., only monsters. Come here if you feel you need experience points. Then head into the quarry in the northwest corner of the map. Fangir's forces are supposed to be here, so take care of them now. The first thing to do as soon as you meet him is to open the diplomacy screen and click on his face. Then click on "negotiate". On the right side of the screen, fangir's portrait will appear, with tables. Click on the "spell" tab and try to see if it has any spells that might be useful to you. Enter the quarry, then follow the directions given by the elves, cross the bridge enter the tunnel, then use the tunneling ability to overcome the block. However, you will arrive at a demon-infested quarry, with a treasure room on the north side, blocked by boulders. To the east of the treasure room, you will see a quarry that leads to the land. To the south, there is another area full of material, where you will be attacked by various enemies. As you continue you will be attacked by 3 or four other demons, so be careful. Anyway, Fangir has asked you to enter the cave in the center, so carry on. You'll also get a couple of pretty cool spells. South of this area are two broken earth nodes, and other objects. If you want to go inside the shadow portal, be sure to use shadow waling magic to be able to move forward, otherwise they'll get poisoned. First, then take the watchtower, then head north. You will see Turtuli, make it yours, and use it as a base for the shadow world. If you think you're brave enough, head south along the path, through a few waves of enemies to get to a rather well defended dungeon in a valley. The main problem turns out to be the Brains, which steal your spells and then use them against you. If you have good level followers at your disposal, it won't be a big problem. To the northwest of the city there is a path that leads you to the main city. There are several units on guard duty, and one of them is a rather powerful giant monster. This battle may turn out to be quite difficult, so we'll give you some pointers. First, make sure you have a Casting Specialist V and that Julia is in a tower with a Casting Room, so try to have all 80 spell points. Construct an item with Phase and give it to Oakleaf. Attack with as many units as you can, and on the first turn use Holy Light and use Phase to bring Oakleaf to the corner. Enemies will begin focusing their fire on Oakleaf, and the rest of your units can begin defeating them in peace.

JULIA 3: SANCTUARY WOODS

You will start the level with two cities and a wizard tower at your disposal, which is a good thing as this scenario can be pretty tough. The first thing to do is to make your life node with a guard unicorn your own, then start dealing with the various independent forces. Go underground through the Fangir tunnel and take over the two mines guarded by the two guys in the underground. Then head north of the life node to find another life node. You don't have many options on how to expand your domain. First, head south, and get the power node and the two magic points. Then explore the ruins and hit the orc city there. Then head south through the ruins and treasures until you see a watchtower. You will also see a bridge nearby, and meet Karissa for the first time. Now head west, and make another city yours. You will come to collide with Arachna, the queen of the dark elves. Dark elves aren't too hard to kill, but you'll need to watch out for double-hit sword throwers and spider queens. To be able to make all borders your own, you'll need to send patrol squads, and guard bridges. When unsure what to do, place a flying unit like a fairy on a bridge. Unless they attack with missile units, you shouldn't have a problem. The key structures in this part of the map that you have explored are the bridges. The main town of Karissa is south of Forlindon, the first ogre town you made your own, south of the start area. The main town of Arachna is underground, accessible through a quarry to the right of Zindar. Zindar is in the south-center of the map, on the right across the river, near a bridge. To the right of the center of the map, north of Zindar, is a quarry that leads to an elf burial chamber. Feel free to go inside and make the present treasures yours. Then keep moving west, and don't worry too much about the underground, as there isn't much to take. Keep making cities your own, leaving a gold dragon there, and moving on to the others. With a group of armed heroes and a group of gold dragons, you should be able to tear apart all enemies without any problems. It is good to ally with Fangir.

KE-NAN 1: THE HORN OF KESH

This scenario will turn out to be quite tough, for a few reasons. First, start the job with nothing. No hero, no city, no magic. Second, the enemy has huge territory, and a lot of soldiers. Third, nomads are a pretty strong race, and you will have to fight against them. Head south first, and don't explore it all. There will be time later to do this. Ashela and the city of Tatabanya will join your forces. Grab the mill and tower if you want, but keep going quickly. Click on the city, go to the third tab, where you can see the buttons for producing things and taking cities. Create a caravan, then move east, then pass through a watchtower and open a path on land on the other side. Bring the caravan to the center of the path and rebuild the city. Buy a captain and the nearby camp, then send djinn to the bay to get the water mill. You will still have some money taken from you with each passing round, but still not too much. Once Tatabanya is rebuilt, you should be fit again. Kill the miners, then head east. Own the mine to the south, but not the watchtower. Use your Djinn to explore the area before sending out your knights. You could be heading south now. You need some magic, and some money. If all of this turns out to be possible, build a sanctuary so you can have good magic. To the east you will find a halfling next to a sphinx. Kill the sphinx and the Mariuns will negotiate a truce with you. Be careful though, as the orcs will follow you if they aren't already. Make sure you have at least some entry level walls and a few decent level units in Tatabanya before they attack. Use a standard defense. Enemies should arrive one per gate. South of where you started is the city of Tyrsak, which can be rebuilt if you have the necessary resources. To the right, a water mill and a field where you can get some cat drive. There is also an arena which will train "regular" units. Be sure to attack the arena. You still have to be careful of Karissa, who is directly south of you in a quarry. He will be your enemy until some time later. Near Tyrsak, south of it, is a pirate ship with an incredible weapon on top of hex. Then continue south with your Djin so you can see how the map unfolds. You may find some gold strands and some knots, things that you cannot make your own right away, but knowing where they are will help you shape your plans well. On the other hand, be sure to do business with Marinus, it is very important. It has some very important magic that can be very useful to you. Then do some quests for the Spirit of Order, so you can get other spells of a decent level. Slowly move to the south side of the map, and make your own the furnace near Karissa's quarry. Then park the ship on top of the quarry, and rebuild the village. The nice thing is that if you don't bother Sahira, she won't bother you. East of Kablag is a dungeon; attack the dungeon, free the orcs, and Karissa will come over to your side, and you will rally to beat Sahira. While dealing with Kabalag, Tatabanya should have already been rebuilt. Start building items for Ashela, then once you do, make more items for the heroes you get in the last scenario. Now move east, and make the city of Kerin your own. Doing this will be the first real difficulty, as Sahira will send his troops to obstruct you. Use the slaves that are not owned by anyone to your advantage. Start grabbing all available resources around Kerin. Build your slaves, but don't throw orcs into the city. So head south first, then east, but don't go through the portal. Make all the cities around there your own before attacking the main city of Sahira. It will not be too difficult, and try to make PASS WALL rings for your heroes, so that they can easily overcome the walls. When you defeat her once, she will reappear on a tower in the shadow world. Now, to get there, make two objects with DOMINATE and DRAIN WILL. Give each to your two heroes. Then take the teleportation portal in the middle of the lava field. You will find yourself in an indoor area that you may have already found with your djinn, which contains many slave units. First, find Pitface, the enemy hero, and kill him. So make all the free units your own, so that you have a kind of help group under your command. You will find yourself in another current of slaves who make their way to two groups made up of three portals each. All portals lead to the same area in the vicinity of Sahira's castle, but each destination is guarded by a different race of demons. This shouldn't be a problem.

KE-NAN 2: DRAKAR OASIS

In this scenario you have to save O'neron, from a dungeon somewhere on the map. This is quite an easy task, so you could use this level to do some preparation for the scenario that will come immediately after. Start by sending your units to the general area, dealing with the nearby mines and taking over the ruins. Now head south of the city you start from, Tatabanya, to find a hero, Gatom, to join you. There is a teleport into the quarry with King Joseph leading you to the east side of the map. You can head there if you want, but it would be best to head west before venturing too far from the base. At this point, however, you are probably still too weak to be able to leave your cities out in the open. North of Tatabanya there is another ruin and a mine, with an Ambir. To the east, you can see the borders of the kingdom of Tigran. Your area is not too large at this point, and you are well protected by mountains and a river that obstructs the access of the opposing troops. The only way they could reach you would be to go through the quarry where you found Joseph. You have a few options. If you have Water Walking, you can use it to take your troops east. Or you can use the teleporters and hope for the best. Another way to make your domain safer is to send your killer through the portal and then shut it down so that no one can get there. Enemies can be problematic given the fact that many of them attack with missile weapon types, and therefore can easily kill your Gold Dragons. It would be better to leave a gold dragon in each city and use the 5 heroes as a killer to kill everything that came out of the city itself. Once the enemies are destroyed, the draconians will arrive. If you have destroyed the teleporter, they will only be able to reach you via one path. Directly north of the Tigran territory are two small towns. Nearby, a quarry, where there is a prison. You can go there to save O'Neron and get to the second part of the quest. Or you can go find the Draconians to kill them. If your heroes are not at a high level, the second option is better. Move east to the other side of the teleportation portal. There is a town nearby that you can make your own, and directly south of it a tower with an ice path. Go inside the quarry, take the teleporter, and you'll find yourself in a frozen quarry with a city. Attack it, making sure you have a DOMINATE object first. Then continue northwest, you will find yourself in a treasure quarry, loot it. Leave the cave through the teleporter and head north from the pair of towers north of the draconian city. Once you enter the jungle, you will be attacked by a phoenix, so head north and take the city. The draconians are hidden in the northwest quadrant of the map. You should have enough men available now. In the end, there are two ways to succeed. You can save O'Neron and take him to the wells of Pertunia, or you can defeat the Draconians.

KE-NAN 3:MOUTH OF AMTAR

This scenario will be very easy in case you have gained experience in previous levels, thus having your heroes at a good level. You will start the level with a city at your disposal, and little else. Send the heroes south to capture the resources. Get the mana crystals. On the second turn you will make alliance with Vorsar. To the south there is a dead end. So go north until you find some blown windmills. Nearby is an elven town of Mullymill, which you will capture. Go south to get a Water node and a Dragon's Quest. South of this point you can find a narrow path through the mountains and a watchtower, and behind that is an elf with a boat that you can rent. Rent the boat, then continue along the river. Kill the necromancer, then head west from the tower. You will see a small town guarded by a pig. Now you can start moving towards Yaru's troops to fight them. Use a Gold Dragon to protect all your cities. Also use the DOMINATE. You will come to a town called Rularn, take possession of it. To the northeast is a shadow portal, and to the north of this Vorsar. You are still allied with Vorsar, so unless you enter the shadow portal, turn around and start heading east with the boat. Put a Gold Dragon on top of the shadow portal. Go underground and deal with the enemies. The last place that remains to be explored turns out to be the Shadow Gate north of Rularn. After passing it, you will be near two cities, one to the north-east, another to the north-west. Take care of the northwest one first. Once both are yours, continue south and attack Shadowhaven. Cross the bridge, take the death node, then east. Take possession of the two cities of the All-Devoureer. Be careful because it has creatures that can take away a lot of HP, but that can also make you gain a lot of HP. It's a little bit harder to get to Yaru. You have to use water walking, then head south of the last few towns, then use teleportation. Be careful before entering the protection assigned to your cities bordering the kingdom of Vorsar, as he will break his alliance with you. Use Gold Dragons as usual. Declare war on him as soon as he breaks the alliance. Hit him hard and fast before he can organize. His main city turns out to be in the northeastern corner of the map, and he will likely use Domain of Darkness as magic.

MEANDOR 1: JUNGLE OF UMBRA

This scenario may be one of the hardest, probably the hardest right after the one you just got through. Again start the level without any heroes and without any magic or city, nothing. Enemies are even harder to kill. Besides, you won't be able to use Gold Dragons. You'll have to use the Bone Dragons, which are pretty poor in comparison. You start with six units and have little gold. Take possession of the northwest mine, and keep the shade unit alive, as it is the most powerful you have. Then head northeast to the watchtower. From here you can see another tower, an ogre outpost and a mine all guarded by undead. Take possession of the town, then send the monster west, crossing the river, to be able to make the tower you see there yours, and then send the rest of the troops to take the mine that the death knights are guarding. You won't have big money problems for now. Taking possession of the tower, you will see a magical catalyst and mana crystals. Take both with your monster, and then, on the east front, go and take possession of the other watchtower north of the mine. You will see a pile of resources near your city. Focus on the power plant to the right of the tower and furnace. Once there, you will find your hero. Move east to get to another watchtower, with seven humans guarding it. Once taken, you'll find yourself in an open jungle-like area, with a river to the south, a dungeon and two ruins, and a few independent units. First, attack the dungeon to get more units so they can help you. Now, you will have to take possession of the ruins to the west, and it will be difficult, as they are defended by two shades. They are strong enemies. You don't have any dark elf cities yet, nor do you have access to any of them, so a better method would be to build a DOMINATE and enter with Morrandir, then dominate the shade and retreat soon after. Ruin in the east is easier. As a reward a ring of life. Take the other tower and you will see a mine with a power plant. Both are defenses, but you should be able to deal with both easily. Be sure to stop, and rest, to regain your HP after the fight. The nearby magic well on the north side of the valley contains a magic. Once you have taken possession of this too, enter the quarry. There are some pretty powerful units. Then move north, into the All-Devourer domain, and you'll see a shadow gate guarded by some demons. If you can't get past them, go south of the shadow gate, then west. There is a small valley surrounding a human city. If you make it yours, you will get a lot of money. Now head to the mine to the north, and also to the tomb to the northwest to give Morrandir a helmet. Then cross the blue domain line, and enter the quarry on the other side. If there is another mine, make it yours. So in the northern passage, blocked by some cobwebs. Then a set of tunnels, leading to an area controlled by elves. Head west to take control of the mines, and you will see a number of exits towards the surface. Still to the northeast is a Shadow Gate, guarded by a few monsters. You can find the ring of levitation southwest of the mine. There isn't much to explore here. On the surface there are watery points that prevent you from continuing south, explore them. First, the Tomb, south of the dungeon. Residents are easy to kill. Then go back to the quarry and take the first exit. You will now come to a shadow portal. There are resources stacked up here. Behind the city, a watchtower, and to the north of this a mine and a broken ship. North of these, another city. Take the broken ship, there is armor inside. Go to the town north of the ship, then cross the river to get to the north toilet. It is a good idea to continue in the shadow world. There are two ruins here, one with a quarry full of rings. Take the portal at the end point of the underground path. Talk to Karagh to join you, then head west. Before finishing the scenario, be sure to place the ship in the northwest corner of the map. You can go and defeat the All-Devourer if you want, but that's not recommended.

MEANDOR 2: URLAND FIELDS

This level will present you with a rather interesting task: to kill six heroes. It would be great if you can use DOMINATE on them, as they have some pretty powerful items. You will start the level in the southwest area, in a jungle. Morrandir should still have his ring, so send him out to explore the countryside. Start with the field next to your lightning bolt. Directly north of this is the first of the six villain heroes. You can kill him with the help of your units, they should be nearby. Take the watchtower east of Nielduh and you will see a mine with a dungeon, tower, node and some crystals. You start getting through all of this so you can grab all the stuff you can. To the north is a ruin with Incarnate. It is very dangerous. Head there and destroy everything. Your reward will consist of a helmet with Fear. Once you have taken possession of the watchtower, you should be able to parry with Ambir. Provides you with a free hero. Tsi starts next to the capital of Ambir. Have him meet with Morrandir. Go ahead and team up with Ambir, then figure out if you can get spells from him. Between you and ambir there is a small town. Revive Phobious, this is a good spot for Morrandir to pick up Tsi Iri. You can see some heroes running around in circles. Kill them. Take possession of the mine in the west, near the bullring, near the bridge. You will now have taken possession of the southern part of the map. There is a quarry to the east, with a city inside, and it's from phobius. Take possession of it. The quarry contains two cities. The other is northwest of the first one you find. There is another exit to the west of it, which leads to the Phobius territory. Enter the quarry, take possession of the city, then summon a Bone Dragon to guard it while you make up a good battalion. Then head north into the path as you kill the invaders and take over the city. This will make it harder for phobious to take over the underground city. Then head to the other things like watchtowers. The problem turns out to be that Ambir will not be able to defend both borders. Place a bone dragon in each city you capture. Then proceed to save money and have your two heroes spin around the map, killing all the forces that attempt to invade your territory. Defense doesn't work as well as it usually does using Gold Dragons. Take apart the missile units, then hide the dragons on top of the temple and kill everything you can with magic. Continue with this strategy until the cities are all built to the maximum possible. Another possible modality results in capturing the dragon in the mountains near Esgard. If you manage to get the dragons to take gold medals, they will become a regular dragon. On the east side of the map, further east of the Ambir castles, is the Dragon's Quarry, and inside one of these, one of the heroes you must forcibly kill. It is not too difficult. His red dragon is rather tough. The last hero can be found in a dungeon, north of Ambir. Look for the elven market by the river, then head north into the city of Yuth. From here, continue north towards the town of Gmbo Umbo.

MEANDOR 3: PHOBIAN EMPIRE

Start in the southwest corner, and you will be assigned the goal of taking over the whole map, which turns out to be quite large. Start by continuing southeast, taking possession of the mine and ruins, as well as the pile of resources. You will be given another hero. Then continue west along the south side of the map. You can get a few things here. Phobius will start sending feelers to your territory. If you're lucky, Phobius will send another of his heroes to him, and you can use DOMINATE on them. Not far from the northwest point you can see a big obstacle, a lake. There are windmills and towers nearby. You have to take control of the southeastern part of the lake. If you fail, use this technique: take control of one of the objects in the scenario, then destroy it. You can also consider the strategy of leveling up your heroes, given the extent of the scenario. You start with 3 heroes, and so does Phobius. Owned Taberu the Ranger and Extract the Rogue, around level 10. Use Earth's Awareness. Start looking for the cities of Phoebious. If you see one, send your hero to take care of another hero. Estra is a particularly promising city. Continue to the southwest corner to take care of Sahira. Another method of attack turns out to be to continue in the shadow world. If you don't like these ideas, start building cities to slowly move northwest to Phobius. In the end, the best thing to do is to ignore the fact that phobius is taking over all the structures. Cities of the undead are difficult, although they are of no use for combat purposes. In the northwest corner of the map is a giant lake, with a good amount of mines and towers on the other side. If you can take an aquatic unit or a flying unit and bring it here, take over all of the mines in Phobius. In the northeast corner are magical spots with End of Rainbow and ruins. If you have time, stop here and grab some items. The level turns out to be quite large, so it is not possible to provide a definitive strategy. Either way, destroying Phobius will always prove to be a rather tedious task.

O'NERON 1: EASTERN PASS

Again start with nothing in hand. You only have one hero. Move east, and you'll see another hero, a paladin. Take possession of it then continue east. There is no time to explore the vicinity. You will find yourself in a group of shadow demons, destroy them. You will most likely have to fight them to be able to continue. Enter the quarry, take possession of the outpost, then go north to attack the two demons, then enter the quarry. Pick up a tower near the entrance, then continue south. Ignore the watermills, move the gnome unit south and some cities will join you. When you take control of the refugee camp, especially the gnome camp, send them to the gnome area to get some knots and mines. Then move all but one or two other units per city to the watchtower, then continue on to the bridge structure. Now fortify the bridge to protect it from any attacks. The all-devourer usually does not use flying type attacks. Place a group of eight guards on top of the tower, and another group of eight on the bridge behind the tower. The idea would be to fill the enemies with missiles. You will then notice that you have a new quest: capture Rumborg. Don't pay much attention to this. The all-devourer is about to cause some panic and you will have to defend yourself against it. Head south near the ravine and grab the power plant and an item, but beware that the enemy may come towards you from the other side. At this point, you should only continue researching spells and leveling up your heroes for about fifty turns, as well as increasing your cities in size so as to forge items and build higher level units. Sacred Wrath and Gold dragon can be very useful here. Be sure to build at least one sanctuary of the Order so that you can do the quests to get the spells you want. If you head southwest from your fort, you will arrive at the town of Sipwuzuk, in a small chamber. It was probably taken by shadow demons, so try to take possession of it and keep it in your possessions. Near this town there appears to be an exit to another way, and if you continue north along the river, there is still another. The number of exits makes it difficult to defend the underground, although the towers at each exit can be useful for defense. If you take over the towers and place a unit on top of the exit, whoever comes out will have to fight you. East of Sipwuzuk is a ruin from which you can get a rune master for a nil price. Use it to help you manage to defend Sipwuzuk. There are five exits from the quarries. If you manage to activate them all, you will be good to go. The problem turns out to be precisely being able to activate them. Once you feel ready to attack Rumborg - which is at the second exit - take the exit near the town of Quraux, in the southeast corner of the dungeon, near a lake. From here, continue southeast, past the town of Abbadon, and cross the bridge near the house to find a watchtower.

O'NEROR 2: LAND OF SHADOWS

Another hero will be made available to you at the end of the last scenario. This means that you will need to have three available, and you can use them well in this scenario. You will start in the southwest corner, nothing behind you. Head north, and take control of the watchtower so you can see your direction. You should see objects and people, take control of them. Rebuild the two cities present here. You can use what comes of it. The only thing you will have to remember is that you will have to defend them. Vorsar will occasionally by mistake rebuild them for you. Beware of the storms that occasionally hit the city. Once you have taken care of this valley, head north, taking over the city of orcs. Keep it for a while to increase its potency. If Vorsar sends troops, they will be used to increase your experience points. Northwest of the city of Vorsar, you can find a cave hidden behind some trees. Inside, a magical spot and ruins. To the south, another city of Vorsar. Continuing south you will enter a labyrinth of caves. The quarry just north of Gargar leads to Vorsar's Shadow Portal. If you have a Gold Dragon, take it through the portal. If not, have a good army, and continue through the portal. Move east, and loot all of his cities. Near the town of Torome, in the northern part of the map, you can find a magic spot with the Dire Penguin magic. You will also find the city of Syron. Take possession of the watchtower to the northwest, then defend yourself against his forces. With any luck, you should be able to do everything in time. Then continue south. You should find a city of Syron, which you can make your own for free. To the east of this city, past an anti-magic field, is a knot. To the north, a mine, and to the south, the Varsar portal. Enter, then split its two cities, to get the whole map.

O'NERON 3: SUNBIRTH MOUNTAINS

This scenario, despite being defined as rather difficult by the game, is not particularly difficult in reality. You also start here with practically nothing, just you and your heroes. Take possession of the mine and move west towards the watchtower. You will see some ruins and some teleporters. Mab will pop up on the diplomacy screen, and threaten you. Merlin will tell you to destroy all eighteen nodes on the map. He will also tell you to use teleporters. It is easier to organize yourself if you walk around the map. There are many independent monsters along the map. Advance to the northeast, then take the node, then enter the quarry and see a city. Once you have also taken possession of the city, take the node and the towers, then everything else you can find. South of the city take Zardorr, on the other side of the quarry there is an outpost that could be a good investment. At this point there are no active enemies, they are all blocked, and you will have to activate the nodes in case you want to deal with them. To the north of Zardorr is a town of nomads, which you will join. Go ahead and own it, then have everyone migrate to the other cities. West of Zordarr you will notice a shadow portal. All the pieces of the airplane are independent, so continue inside. Take possession of the city, then of the node. Migrate to the city of nomads, taking possession of the bad units that were there, and then go through the teleporter. Head northwest to hire the gnome for free. You will be given more flexibility this way. Keep exploring north until Yaka is activated. This is the fire mage, and his possessions are to the north-west. They can be accessed via the westernmost tunnel. The city is north of the cave, on the other side of the mountains. If you catch him in a couple of turns, he isn't hard to defeat. The next is Serena, who will be activated after being in the green dot in the tunnels, or in the Life Node. It is located in the north-central section of the map. The city is hidden in the forest. Look at the hexagon. The next is Tempest, reach it by heading towards the first city you took, starting from Mab, and continue along the next tunnel from the teleporter in the snow. There are cobwebs blocking the way. You will have awakened Nekron. Loot the city, and continue along the exit to the right. His city is directly to the east, on the surface. Meb can be reached by following the underground path to the east, passing a death node, then a village of gnomes, then continuing south. There is a human city. Then to the east, finding an exit that leads to a quarry. You then have two choices: kill Merlin, or break all eighteen knots. To kill merlin, you will have to declare war on him then summon monsters on his plateau in the shadow world. If you choose to destroy all nodes, there is a nordo in each map. All nodes are connected to each other.

MERLIN: THE HIVE

You will start the scenario with a few units, of which the most important is Merlin and your lone hero, Teryn. The main mode will be to increase the experience of your forces and your cities, trying to develop them before the All-Devourer takes possession of them. If you want spells, you'd better get them in the first twenty turns. You have some goals in this scenario, namely: leveling up your heroes; search for very important spells as quickly as possible; take the "Gold Dragon" spell from the Spirit of Order as soon as possible; Kill the Demon Lords. Enter the shadow portal to get to the cave, then head southeast to get to a Julia town. Take your second hero, Paxanaria, north. Meandor will also give you a city on the east side of the quarries. Don't build too many troops to defend yourself, you won't have time. Try to research as many spells as possible, while also building factories, and then find a defensible city. Start looking for spells that do a lot of damage: wildfire, poison vines, evil woods. You will need it to defend your cities. Enter the map and look at Julia's territory. In the northwest corner is the town of Estwyck, with a unit in its vicinity. It is the unit that will be provided to you by Julia. Grab Paxy, Teryn and the two knights, then proceed southeast to the nao. Take possession of the earth node and the mine. Then proceed east and loot the goblin city. Get people to migrate from the city, so take the watchtower. Get the ruins and gold south of it. During the tenth day, Kenan will be attacked and given succubus and three executors to help him. Since you have no hope of defeating the Demon Lords, go west and attack the ruins. The enemy will most likely surrender and you will be given a sacrificial dagger. Now get the Fire Halo from Ke-nan, before he leaves. Send the succubus west, then a little north, to get the magical realy. Then continue north. On turn 13 Symon will be attacked. Julia will send you a message telling you about a ruin she has found, and will tell you to find a sword to unlock the demonic force. It is not possible for now. O'Neron will provide you with troops to help Symon. They are very expensive, so get them killed right away. But keep the Astral Sprite so you can get the resources on the map. Send this one west to get the three things. From the underground ruins where you find Paxy, head southwest. You will find an orc city to loot, and you will get some research points. From the underground ruins, where you are with Paxy, head west to sod. You will find a city of orcs to loot in order to get some money and research points. It may be too difficult to take, and in that case you should at least take over the mine. North of the magic spot, which the succubus should now have taken possession of, you'll find two important things: a dungeon and a quarry. In the quarry is a Tygrant city, the most defensible city in the game. You can only get there from one direction, and you can easily occupy the corridor to get there, thus blocking the enemies. Take possession of the dungeon before continuing into the quarry. You will free some units that will prove to be very useful for taking and defending the city of Tigran. Paxy should be near the teleporter. Use it, and tear apart the one on the other side. You will find yourself in a goblin cave complex. Head east, grab the goblin bombers, then grab the magic items. Then back east. Around turn eighteen you should have taken possession of the Tigran city in the hole. Ignore the resources, and take the city, then use the resources to build something in the city. Paxy will be heading east. Loot the goblin city with your units and bombers, then continue east after taking over the mine. You should now understand that you are close to your city further east. Take the watchtower, then head towards the city, then continue north. You will need to exit the quarry, and then continue west, near the Tigran town in the quarry. North of the city that was given to you by Moander is a mine, which was taken by a Demon Lord. If you defeat the Lord, you will be sent a message about the enemy refusing to attack. This makes Hujador defensible. This way you can place your forces on top of the quarry exit and on top of the watchtower. From this base in the south, send your heroes to slay small amounts of demons to gain experience levels. Try to keep a central nearby. Don't enter the enemy's domain yet. Until you have heroes with magical items, don't do it. Once your heroes are fully equipped with weapons and armor, take possession of the southernmost half of the map. When you find a cave, place a gold dragon in it until you are ready to proceed underground. Then, look for the cave on the east side of the map, north of the city of Kammort. This will be the main point from which to attack, and is located right near the city of Meandor. Now you should start taking over the southern part of the cave complex. When you find a gray pit full of bones and flames, you will have found a teleport exit point, from which shadow demons will emerge. The best thing to do is to put some Gold Dragons right in this room, so that they deal with the enemies immediately. As for the west part of the cave complex, move north, i.e. within the Julia territory. Once you get to the surface, you should continue south, arriving at a flaming hole southeast of the town of Leiwe. Continue through it, and then south to find the sword that Julia was talking about. The sword is very powerful. If O'Neron is still alive, he will give you a city close to the shadow portal. If he's not alive, head northeast, passing the mountains, until you find a large area immune to magic. Go inside, then place some Gold Dragon. Then summon another one, then use your heroes. You will immediately find some Syrons. Build a city with the pioneers, and stand still for a turn. On the next turn, send your hero to the northeast and destroy the relay here. Then go back. On the next turn, send the troops southwest, destroying another relay. So back to square one again. Summon a Gold Dragon now. Send a group of heroes northeast to the magic point, then southeast to a goblin city. It should be neutral, and have no defense. Own it, then put on a dragon. Now you will have to start building and fortifying the city, in particular you will have to put a wizard tower and a portal for teleportation. The syron outpost is ok, but it will take some time to be able to build. The All-Devourer will immediately begin sending everything they own against you. His first action in each battle will be to dispel your heroes' spells, then use plague on the city. Once you have built the wizard tower, you can start taking possession of whatever you want. Throughout the map there are several cities associated with different races. What you need to do is keep summoning Gold Dragons, then take possession of all the cities, summoning Gold Dragons. Use plague on all cities. Once you get the wizard tower, you can start building as many units as you want from all your cities. Or you can send your hero to take over all the mines.