Elwin and Shaera → Together

[stachnie]

If you would like to take a look at the original page visit this link:
https://www.celestialheavens.com/261

[stachnie]

I have passed the last 3 scenarios without supplying Elwin with any troops - he could win most of fights by himself (he had all Combat skills), even without Immortality potions. Only the final fight with Harke was more difficult so I had to make some hits&runs. Harke must have a strong army since the beginning because his main town cannot produce any troops and I had captured the other one very soon.

[wimfrits]

Remember to NOT let Harke flee during combat!!!

He'll disappear to red's lands and you won't be able to finish the scenario.
Edited on Fri, Feb 24 2006, 07:22 by wimfrits

[Grail Quest]

A relaxing scenario despite being unable to access Red's towns. Once Red's main heroes are clear, it does not seem able to muster a decent expeditionary force for the rest of the game. If you go after the late-game sorties with 3-6 Fairy Dragons, they will usually flee (try not to get the accompanying hero killed, which would mean they won't gain any XP from the battle).



Harke just stands outside his town. He won't move to engage even if your force is inferior, and his army doesn't change (but he may send a hero out to flag nearby resources when you're not around watching him). Otherwise, the map is largely safe to explore once all accessible towns are captured and garrisoned.



If you have both the Gloves and the Boots that increase movement, you can cross the map in about 2 days if you only have fast troops, like Sprites, Griffins, Storm Elementals, Fairy Dragons, or Mantises. Remember to control your Summoning by filling all your troop slots with only those troop types you would like to travel with you. Elwin is strong enough to clear almost all neutral stacks by himself so fights are more about avoiding troop losses than losing the battle.



Careful about overbuilding -- you probably won't have enough cash to buy all the Fairy Dragons and Mantises or Elementals you want.



Another reason to take down Harke early is he has Unnatural Armor, which gives everyone on his side Nature Ward.

[HodgePodge]

Remember to NOT let Harke flee during combat!!!
He'll disappear to red's lands and you won't be able to finish the scenario.
Edited on Fri, Feb 24 2006, 07:22 by wimfrits

Thanks for that reminder. I replayed that last scenario of the Elwin campaign just a couple of months ago … and FORGOT. Harke vanished and I was stuck.

[jeff]

It's been awhile since I played that one and forgot is the Shackles of War available to prevent his fleeing?

[Wheeler Dealer]

An easy scenario. I hired a druid to acompany Gramin, She eventually reached level 10. They mainly patroled the north. Elwin explored the map alone, spinning off or dismissing elementals he summoned. he reached level 32 and reached grandmaster in all lfie magic skills in this last scenario. Elwin had reached grandmaster in all nature magic skills earlier. He had fair combat skills with some tactics and scouting thrown in.



I hired order lords at the tavern near Rushbrooke to boost growth and income, ultimately I had about 5. I had a couple of knights to sit in the towns that red preferred to suprise attack (Alcala in particular).



As I began to approach the end of the scenario I accumaulated an army in Rocky Springs for the battle with Harke. Elwin, joined now by Gramin, had 20 fairy dragons, 10 mantis, 50 griffins, 2 phoenix and 300 sprites. (I didn't use creatures slower than my heroes). I took a few casualties in the final battle, Harke never tried to flee.

[Phate]

I finished this map on expert just by running straight to Harke's town with Elwin alone and solo'ing him before the end of the second week. It was actually my first playthrough and I somewhat wandered down there, with a little extra preparation (say, some fodder units and Gramin to distract damage for a few turns), it should be a cinch if you built Elwin well.



Grab the dragon-scale armor and halberd of the swiftwatch on your way down.



The way I did it was simply walking Elwin to the lower-left corner of the battlefield so that only the mantises and air elementals could hit him in melee (I had gm magic res). Needed an immortality pot to effectively buy this extra turn of movement.



Once he resurrected I buffed him with Dragon Strength and Fortune, which allowed me to revive more damage with Heal than his army could deal per turn. You should also throw in buffs like Nature Ward, Stone Skin, Celestial Armor etc. etc. when you have a free turn.



Eventually the retaliation whittles down his army to manageable levels. Doesn't matter if he flees, because you shouldn't have taken the other teal town yet, he just goes there which is 2 turns or so away.

[Wheeler Dealer]

Same basic strategy as before, hired a druid to go with Gramin and patrol the north and let Elwin explore. This time Elwin was GM Nature Magic and GM in all combat skills. Most battles he just dominated, sometimes summoned WEs to give him a little more time.

I had three special bows, two I started with and one I acquired early. Gramin and the druid took the bows that gave an extra ranged attack and gave no range penalties. That army included as many elves and FEs as possible along with a few WEs. Elwin took the bow that cast Slow.

Breeze is a lame artifact. To get any benefit you have to change artifacts before and after each battle, but you should probably make that part of your routine anyway.

Finished in Week 9 with only a few challenging battles.