History ThatOneLevel / AgeOfEmpiresII

* Gajah Mada 2, ''Unconditional Loyalty'', is a tough one for many players, as you're tasked with puncturing a thick bulwark of walls, towers, soldiers, and siege weapons to rescue King Jayanegara, who is fighting off the enemies from the center of the map. Not only do you start with limited resources and get raided constantly, but you will lose if you [[TimedMission take too long]] and Rakrian Kruti defeats Jayanegara. Although you can quickly find an ally who can help you breach Trowulan's defenses, you'll have to build up your army fast, lest you be unable to make any progress. Oh, and after you save Jayanegara, you still have to escort him to an area in the other side of the map, which is well-fortified. On a somewhat positive note, the powerful Gajah Mada HeroUnit does not need to survive this mission, so you should make good use of him early on.

** Mission 4, "Crossing the Pyrenees" is a BaselessMission where the player has to cross the harsh cold mountain range to reach the destination with the hero unit, at least one Trade Cart and fifteen military units. The map gimmick is that there are cliff passes that drains the player's units' hitpoints while the alternative route is a heavily fortified fortress. Enemies patrolling the cliffs are not affected by the HP drain and benefit from higher elevation attack bonus by default, meaning that the safest way to cross the mountain range is to lure the patrolling enemies with the hero unit out of the cliff into an ambush, which can easily take up to an hour at least. The only saving grace is that the player is not bound by a timer.

** The third mission, "Saving the Huts", is similar to the previous scenario in that your fragile base will be subjected to constant pressure from both the Tatars and Mongols before your own army is large enough to deal with them, forcing you garrison your villagers in your Town Centers to hold the enemy off until you have the technology to bring the fight back to them. Worse still, in a sort of perspective reversal of "Pax Mongolica" from the Genghis Khan campaign, Subotai will arrive with reinforcements 40 minutes after you locate your initial base. Since his troops quickly acquire full Imperial Age upgrades while you're restricted to the Castle Age, your army won't be any match for him, forcing you once again to complete your main goals quickly before the Mongols are too much to deal with. By the time you've freed all of the tribes, you better hope that Subotai's army isn't following you to Hungary, since the road leading there is full of Tatar soldiers and defenses that are hard enough to deal with on their own.

** The second scenario, "The Field of Blood," is like "King of Valencia" from the El Cid campaign a Wonder victory scenario, but in this case, not only do you need to wait for an ally to build the thing, you also have to defend it for 200 more years after its competition. While you start with a pretty sizable base and a couple of allies who act as buffers, the Chanca will very soon invade you with seemingly ''endless'' streams of soldiers, to the point that you probably won't even have any breathing room to advance to the Imperial Age after they start attacking Cuzco. It gets even worse later on, when Anccu Hualloc joins in on the fun and sends torrents of Imperial Age soldiers and advanced siege weapons your way. You'll need a ''lot'' of defensive structures to pull through, but unfortunately there isn't much stone that you can safely gather, so achieving the perfect balance of soldiers and fortifications is tough. Oh, and if you want the ''Definitive Edition'' achievement for the scenario, you aren't allowed to build any additional walls or gates.

** The fifth mission, "The Old Tiger," is a fixed-force, micromanagement-intensive nightmare. Your first objective is to escort a Monk HeroUnit to four shrines that are unfortunately inside well-fortified enemy bases. You have no resources or buildings to produce additional units for this part of the mission, so any Monk or siege weapon you lose is a major blow. You're up against four different factions (three sharing the same color), all of which will regularly use their infinite resources to send squads of soldiers at you - and if you go straight for the shrines instead of trying to clear the map with your starting army, you'll be attacked from all sides. And once you're actually attacking the AI's buildings, it will respond as expected, by spamming siege engines and elite infantry until you destroy their military infrastructure. You have a second force primed for a naval invasion on the far side of the map from the Monk hero and his bodyguard, but actually breaking through the enemy's coastal defenses and Portuguese navy to merge your army is easier said than done. The second part of the scenario, where you're finally allowed to train new units to wipe out the enemy, is easy by comparison, but even so, the resources you are given are limited unless you convert one of the Portuguese Feitorias, so you better make sure to destroy as many of your enemies' production buildings as possible during the first half of the mission, or else you won't be able to make much progress before running out of supplies. Additionally, the Monk hero isn't the only unit that [[HeroMustSurvive has to survive]]; even after you're done escorting him to all four temples, you will automatically lose if his bodyguard falls in battle. Bringing him to safety is no easy matter, as not only will your land army be badly depleted by the time you're done with the temples, but you're ability to get him on a Transport Ship to flee to your northern base ends up depending on whether or not the Rakhine and Portuguese navies are blocking your way; if they're already ravaging your docks before you're ready, keeping the hero alive will be that much harder.

** The fifth mission, "The Old Tiger," is a fixed-force, micromanagement-intensive nightmare. Your first objective is to escort a Monk HeroUnit to four shrines that are unfortunately inside well-fortified enemy bases. You have no resources or buildings to produce additional units for this part of the mission, so any Monk or siege weapon you lose is a major blow. You're up against four different factions (three sharing the same color), all of which will regularly use their infinite resources to send squads of soldiers at you - and if you go straight for the shrines instead of trying to clear the map with your starting army, you'll be attacked from all sides. And once you're actually attacking the AI's buildings, it will respond as expected, by spamming siege engines and elite infantry until you destroy their military infrastructure. You have a second force primed for a naval invasion on the far side of the map from the Monk hero and his bodyguard, but actually breaking through the enemy's coastal defenses and Portuguese navy to merge your army is easier said than done. The second part of the scenario, where you're finally allowed to train new units to wipe out the enemy, is easy by comparison, but even so, the resources you are given are limited unless you convert one of the Portuguese Feitorias, so you better make sure to destroy as many of your enemies' production buildings as possible during the first half of the mission, or else you won't be able to make much progress before running out of supplies.

** "Honfoglalás" is quite a doozy. To begin with, the mission is basically an entire campaign condensed into a single scenario, as it's divided into several phases that force you to rebuild your economy from scratch each time, and you won't be allowed to advance to the next age until finishing each section, after which you age up automatically. The major kicker that earns this mission such infamy, however, is the section in which the Byzantines request your aide against the Bulgars. At this point in the mission, you're still restricted to the Castle Age, yet the Bulgars will have reached Post-Imperial Age and have access to fully-upgraded Halberdiers and Tarkans.[[note]]As the Bulgarians civilization wasn't introduced until ''The Last Khans'', the Bulgars are represented by the Huns in this mission.[[/note]] Since the enemy AI behaves like a normal random map player, their economy will be so huge that they'll be able to spam fighters seemingly forever. Because of this, your only chance at defeating them is to build a deathtrap of garrisoned Castles and Guard Towers to keep their army distracted while you sneak other units with your Transport Ships to destroy their economy and production buildings. If you're not ''really'' patient, you won't get far.

** "Dos Pilas". After acquiring the titular city, you will eventually face an invasion by Calakmul that's impossible to defeat and be given the choice either to join them to fight Tikal or flee to Uaxactun and defeat Calakmul. Either way you go, your main opponent has unlimited resources and a large, well-fortified Imperial Age base, forcing you to hurry your economy so that you can stand up to their level of technology. Along the way, however, you will also have to contend with any cities that have been captured by opposing forces, making the journey up a lot more difficult.

** "Cyprus" is one of the grindiest in the entire game because not only does your rival live in a heavily fortified base (made even tougher by the fact that they're Byzantines) and have unlimited resources, but they will ''reconstruct their production buildings'' until you slay all of their Villagers and raze their Town Centers. The lack of Relics and the Britons' horrible cavalry certainly don't help.

** "Cyprus" is one of the grindiest in the entire game because not only does your rival live in a heavily fortified base (made even tougher by the fact that they're Byzantines) and have unlimited resources, but they will ''rebuild their production buildings'' until you slay all of their Villagers and Town Centers. The lack of Relics and the Britons' horrible cavalry certainly don't help.

* While the majority of the rebooted Alaric campaign in ''Definitive Edition'' is pretty easy, the final mission, "A Kingdom of Our Own", is such a monstrosity that it single-handedly justifies the campaign's three-sword rating on the main menu. Your goal is to construct and defend a Castle in three Gallic cities (Narbo, Tolosa, and Valentia) respectively, while also defending yourself against Sarus. Unfortunately, you have no allies this time around and start with nothing except a few Villagers and a handful of infantry units. Although your huge initial gold supply will help you quickly catch up, it won't take long before Sarus takes full advantage of the Goths' ability to ZergRush, making him virtually ''unstoppable'' until you kill his hero unit. You'd think the latter detail would make things straightforward, but Sarus won't leave the comfort of his town unless driven to desperation, and it's ridiculously hard forcing him out because he can replenish his entire army pretty much the instant you destroy it. Oh, and let's not forget that in the middle of all of that, you're still holding off raids from your three other opponents, so even if you go for Sarus before he can build up his economy, you risk leaving your own base open to annihilation. Of the Gallic cities, Tolosa, in particular, can be a real pain to deal with because they build several Trebuchets alongside the rest of their army each time they assault you. It's during situations like this that you realize how much of a liability the Goths' complete lack of Stone Walls can be. And as if all of this wasn't overwhelming enough, the Western Roman Army will declare war against you after you've built your first Castle inside one of the Gallic fortresses, and their Cataphracts will likely give you a hard time as the Goths.
* The ''Definitive Edition'' remake of Dracula 3, "The Breath of the Dragon", is practically as brutal as the real Vlad himself. While the opening phase is simplified, everything after you capture Giurgiu is so absurdly harder that there's almost ''no'' room to screw up. Unlike the original version, where you had ample room to plan your attacks against the enemy factions, now ''all five of your opponents'' will regularly assault you in large numbers. While Rahova and Novoselo aren't technologically advanced, getting to their respective bases is difficult because you have to bypass the aggressive, well-fortified Ottoman base at Darstor along the way, not to mention the rivers are swarming with enemy warships from multiple factions. Meanwhile, as if Orsova's army of cavalry wasn't already bad enough, Obluciza has been quite buffed, as they now start in the Castle Age and field a hard-to-counter mixture of Boyars, Crossbowmen, Monks, and siege weapons to constantly harass you. It certainly doesn't help that Giurgiu is located on an island in the center of the map with limited resources and vulnerability to naval raids. While you can obtain a few more resources by defeating Darstor's allies, you won't last long unless you act fast. Worst of all, unlike the ''HD'' version of the mission, defeating the subjugated factions has no effect on the Ottomans' infinite unit production, so they'll continue hammering you with Elite Janissaries, Bombard Cannons, Hussars, and Heavy Camel Riders as long as all of their military buildings are still standing. As a final slap in the face, you won't win anymore just by destroying their Castle and Mosque, and now must wipe them completely off the map.
* Bari 4, "The Best Laid Plans", in the ''Definitive Edition'' remake. Oh boy, where to even begin? You start in the Castle Age, while your two primary opponents are in the Imperial Age. Both will ''constantly'' attack you with their superior armies, giving you barely any room to catch up. Worse still, you aren't allowed to build any new Castles, limiting your defensive options to the one Castle you start with, in addition to Towers, which your enemies can easily steamroll. And if you thought the Holy Roman Empire and Papal States were the extent of your worries, you're sadly mistaken. In the middle of your struggle against the Teutonic Knights, Cavaliers (later Paladins), Halberdiers, and Trebuchets pouring in from the north, another enemy will regularly harass your economy for as long as their riverbank Tower is standing. Even more insulting, your only ally at the beginning will turn against you just ''six minutes'' into the mission and won't switch back until you destroy their Castle. You're given several side quests to aid you along the way, but with all the pressure you face, it's unlikely you'll even have the wiggle room to take most of them on. Among these, one player will initially offer an alliance at the hefty cost of 1000 gold (which is risky, considering how much you'll need that gold otherwise), but if you take too long, they'll become yet ''another'' enemy for you to ward off. Whether you decide to win by defending your Castle for an hour of game time or by simply destroying your enemies, you're in for a truly brutal experience.

** In contrast to the first two missions, Prithviraj 3, "The Elopement," can be straight-up brutal even on Standard difficulty. One mistake can get you killed at the beginning, where you'll have to find a lot of berry bushes because guards will likely end up ganging up on you. Then you have an enemy base and an army on your tail if you go west, though it's far less harsh if you go east to the bandit's base and get extra gold in the process, to a base where your gold will run out fast, the closest gold supply is out of town near the enemy navy. However, this only applies to the HD edition, as the entire Prithviraj campaign is reworked in the ''Definitive Edition''.

* The Battles of the Forgotten:

** The ''Definitive Edition'' remake of "Cyprus" is one of the grindiest in the entire game because not only does your rival live in a heavily fortified base (made even tougher by the fact that they're Byzantines) and have unlimited resources, but they will ''rebuild their production buildings'' until you slay all of their Villagers and Town Centers. The lack of Relics and the Britons' horrible cavalry certainly don't help.
** The scenario "Langshan Jiang." Your objective is to protect five transports and build a monument in your town, while defending against endless waves of enemies from the east and west, army and navy, ''including siege weapons'', and [[TimedMission you only have 25 minutes]] to clear the enemy ships and towers. And since the transport is AI-controlled, it will merrily sail right into the teeth of any hostiles you might have missed. The situation can be alleviated slightly if you pay 2,000 gold to some pirates to ally with them, but you'll ''really'' need the gold for just about everything else. And don't think escorting the last transport to your base is the InstantWinCondition, instead you have to actually have your workers ''build'' the Wonder, at which point the AI will throw absolutely everything at you, attacking with Cannon Galleons from the sea ''and'' landing assault forces with siege equipment to test whether you thought to upgrade your base's inland defenses while you were clearing the lake.
*** The scenario is renamed "Lake Poyang" in the ''Definitive Edition'', but is otherwise little changed. You do now have a ten-minute grace period to clear the path before the first shipment arrives, but the time between later shipments is reduced to ''15 minutes.'' And don't even ''think'' about trying to counter-attack your enemies to wipe out their docks, your main opponent has been given several PurposefullyOverpowered towers that can OneHitKill anything you throw at them and have greater range than trebuchets.
** "Bapheus" is notoriously difficult, mainly because the town you are given to build is located at an open area of the map where it is difficult to defend and build your economy effectively, and you start off at the Feudal Age while your enemies are at Castle Age. Not only that, you have to deal with four different enemy factions that constantly attack you. Considering how the Turks are infamously known for their weak early game, this can catch newer players off-guard. Fortunately, the scenario was slightly reworked in the ''Definitive Edition'' where the player starts in the Castle Age instead, giving the player ample opportunity to build up and defeat all the enemies. Unfortunately, that scenario's achievement is to not ally with any of the other Turkish factions, giving you one more enemy to deal with.

* Gajah Mada 2, ''Unconditional Loyalty'', is a tough one for many players, as you're tasked with puncturing a thick bulwark of walls, towers, soldiers, and siege weapons to rescue King Jayanegara, who is fighting off the enemies from the center of the map. Not only do you start with limited resources and get raided constantly, but you will lose if you [[TimedMission take too long]] and Rakrian Kruti defeats Jayanegara. Although you can quickly find an ally who can help you breach Trowulan's defenses, you'll have to build up your army fast, lest you be unable to make any progress. Oh, and after you save Jayanegara, you still have to escort him to an area in the other side of the map, which is well-fortified. On a somewhat positive note, the powerful Gaja Madah hero unit does not need to survive this mission, so you should make good use of him early on.
* For the most part, the Suryavarman I campaign is one of the easiest post-''Conquerors'' campaigns. However, the fourth mission, ''Challenging a Thalassocracy'', is a bit tough due to the fact that you have to protect an ally from two aggressive enemies and will lose the mission if they fall. Unlike ''The Dai Viet Uprising'' below, your opponents will strike your own base in addition to your ally's, so it can be tricky knowing which camp you should be guarding at any given time. It also doesn't help that the battle takes place primarily on water, so you're stuck relying on the Khmer's mediocre navy and can't take advantage of their main strengths, not to mention both of your foes are Malay, which are one of the most dominant seafaring civilizations in the game.

* For the most part, the Suryavarman I campaign is one of the easiest post-''Conquerors'' campaigns. However, the fourth mission, ''Challenging a Thalassocracy'', is a bit tough due to the fact that you have to protect an ally from two aggressive enemies and will lose the mission if they fall. Unlike ''The Dai Viet Uprising'' below, your opponents will strike your own base in addition to your ally's, so it can be tricky knowing which camp you should be guarding at any given time. It also doesn't help that the battle takes place primarily on water, so you're stuck with the Khmer's mediocre navy and can't take advantage of their main strengths, not to mention both of your foes are Malay, which are one of the most dominant seafaring civilizations in the game.

* Gaja Madah 2, ''Unconditional Loyalty'', is a tough one for many players, as you're tasked with puncturing a thick bulwark of walls, towers, soldiers, and siege weapons to rescue King Jayanegara, who is fighting off the enemies from the center of the map. Not only do you start with limited resources and get raided constantly, but you will lose if you [[TimedMission take too long]] and Rakrian Kruti defeats Jayanegara. Although you can quickly find an ally who can help you breach Trowulan's defenses, you'll have to build up your army fast, lest you be unable to make any progress. Oh, and after you save Jayanegara, you still have to escort him to an area in the other side of the map, which is well-fortified. On a somewhat positive note, the powerful Gaja Madah hero unit does not need to survive this mission, so you should make good use of him early on.

* The ''Definitive Edition'' remake of Dracula 3, "The Breath of the Dragon", is practically as brutal as the real Vlad himself. While the opening phase is simplified, everything after you capture Giurgiu is so absurdly harder that there's almost ''no'' room to screw up. Unlike the original version, where you had ample room to plan your attacks against the enemy factions, now ''all five of your opponents'' will regularly assault you in large numbers. While Rahova and Novoselo aren't technologically advanced, getting to their respective bases is difficult to reach because you have to bypass the aggressive, well-fortified Ottoman base at Darstor along the way, not to mention the rivers are swarming with enemy warships from multiple factions. Meanwhile, as if Orsova's army of cavalry wasn't already bad enough, Obluciza has been quite buffed, as they now start in the Castle Age and field a hard-to-counter mixture of Boyars, Crossbowmen, Monks, and siege weapons to constantly harass you. It certainly doesn't help that Giurgiu is located on an island in the center of the map with limited resources and vulnerability to naval raids. While you can obtain a few more resources by defeating Darstor's allies, you won't last long unless you act fast. Worst of all, unlike the ''HD'' version of the mission, defeating the subjugated factions has no effect on the Ottomans' infinite unit production, so they'll continue hammering you with Elite Janissaries, Bombard Cannons, Hussars, and Heavy Camel Riders as long as all of their military buildings are still standing. As a final slap in the face, you won't win anymore just by destroying their Castle and Mosque, and now must wipe them completely off the map.

** The third scenario, "Harbinger of Destruction," pits you up against three extremely aggressive enemies who are plentifully-supplied by a well-fortified Italian city on a very hard-to-reach part of the map. Early on, before you even have the chance to take one of them down, all three will send large armies against you at once, making it difficult to build up a sizable force, let alone survive. Although you can eventually get some extra help from a couple of allies, as well as a reinforcement party, any aid will likely be too little, too late if you aren't clever. Similar to "Into China" and "Jihad!", one of your opponents goes for a Wonder victory, forcing you to act fast amidst constant raids on your settlement. Making matters worse, the scenario doesn't allow you to build farms, so you'll need to obtain food by hunting or fishing in dangerously exposed areas, receiving occasional tributes, or raiding Trade Workshops in decently defended parts of the map.
** Tamerlane 5, "Scourge of the Levant," pits you against ''six'' different opponents, and while the Armenians and Georgians aren't hard to deal with, the four Saracen players are all quite formidable, and their specialty of camelry and monks is difficult to counter as the Tatars. It also doesn't help that you start with zero villagers and the Turkish village you ultimately capture is located in a very central part of the map, making it a ''constant'' target of enemy raids. Luckily, the northern area next to the lake, where your initial buildings are, is easy to wall off, and your enemies won't attack you with ''too'' many siege weapons, but you'll still need to take out one of the Saracen bases early to hold out long enough.

** Mission 3, "Tsar of the Bulgars", tasks you with moving your starting band of cavalry northwards to defend a Bulgarian town being attacked by the Mongols, Tatars, and Cumans. The tricky part is that your economy is almost entirely dependent on tributes, making it difficult to amass a force large enough to fight back, especially since you're under immense pressure from the very moment you arrive. All three of your foes will assault your stronghold constantly, so you'll have to spend your limited resources wisely to finally get a chance to breathe. The scenario becomes significantly easier after you've slain all of the Khans in either the Tatars' or Cumans' camp, which will cause the player to become your ally and fight back against the Mongols (as well as distracting them away from your citadel), but even killing the Khans is harder than you'd think, due to the complicated layout of the Tatar and Cuman bases that could easily result in bad engagements if you don't look ahead.

* The last Sundjata scenario, "The Lion's Den," was so difficult upon the initial release of ''The African Kingdoms'' that it was made significantly easier in later patches. Originally, you start off in the Castle Age, at the eastern corner of the map with a few units and some reasonable amount of resources. Your enemy starts off at the ''Imperial Age'', and would not only attack you constantly, but at some point they'd start ''building a Wonder''. Said enemy is Malian, and makes full advantage of this by sending beefed-up Cavaliers and surprisingly tanky infantry thanks to their pierce armor bonus. To make matter worse, gold is incredibly scarce in this scenario - you have no Relics to capture or allies to trade with, and the best gold deposits are on some heavily-guarded islands. And on top of that, the map is modeled after "Pyrrhus of Epirus" from ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresI'', which was also notorious for its insane difficulty, giving the players an impression on how challenging the first game was. The mission was eventually changed so that you start in the Imperial Age and the enemy AI is less aggressive. Nonetheless, you'll still need to have good micromanagement and booming skills to build an army strong enough to clear your opponent before time runs out. Additionally, for the ''Definitive Edition'' achievement, this mission is the only one which has to be completed on the hardest difficulty.

** The final three missions are easier than the first three, which doesn’t mean they're easy, especially since the ''Definitive Edition'' AI is more aggressive. In "The Final Fortress" in particular, both the Ming Vanguard ''and'' Ming factions will regularly invade your base from the very start.

* The ''Definitive Edition'' remake of Dracula 3, "The Breath of the Dragon", is practically as brutal as the real Vlad himself. While the opening phase is simplified, everything after you capture Giurgiu is so absurdly harder that there's almost ''no'' room to screw up. Unlike the original version, where you had ample room to plan your attacks against the enemy factions, now ''all five of your opponents'' will regularly assault you in large numbers. While Rahova and Novoselo aren't technologically advanced, their respective bases are incredibly difficult to reach because you have to bypass the aggressive, well-fortified Ottoman base at Darstor along the way, and the rivers have way too many enemy warships to immediately take control of. Meanwhile, as if Orsova's army of cavalry wasn't already bad enough, Obluciza has been quite buffed, as their forces now comprise of Boyars, Archers, Monks, and siege weapons, making them challenging to counter. It certainly doesn't help that Giurgiu is located on an island in the center of the map with limited resources and vulnerability to naval raids. While you can obtain a few more resources by defeating Darstor's allies, you'll be forced to migrate your villagers into dangerous areas by the time you're finally ready to attack Darstor themselves. Worst of all, unlike the ''HD'' version of the mission, defeating the subjugated factions has no effect on the Ottomans' infinite unit production, so they'll continue hammering you with Janissaries, Bombard Cannons, Hussars, and Heavy Camel Riders as long as all of their military buildings are still standing. As a final slap in the face, you won't win anymore just by destroying their Castle and Mosque, and now must wipe them completely off the map.
* Bari 4, "The Best Laid Plans", in the ''Definitive Edition'' remake. Oh boy, where to even begin? You start in the Castle Age, while your two primary opponents are in the Imperial Age. Both will ''constantly'' attack you with their superior armies, giving you barely any room to catch up. Worse still, you aren't allowed to build any new Castles, limiting your defensive options to the one Castle you start with, in addition to Towers, which your enemies can easily steamroll. And if you thought the Holy Roman Empire and Papal States were the extent of your worries, you're sadly mistaken. In the middle of your struggle against the Teutonic Knights, Cavaliers, Halberdiers, and Trebuchets pouring in from the north, another enemy will regularly harass your economy for as long as their riverbank Tower is standing. Even more insulting, your only ally at the beginning will turn against you just ''six minutes'' into the mission and won't switch back until you destroy their Castle. You're given several side quests to aid you along the way, but with all the pressure you face, it's unlikely you'll even have the wiggle room to take most of them on. Among these, one player will initially offer an alliance at the hefty cost of 1000 gold (which is risky, considering how much you'll need that gold otherwise), but if you take too long, they'll become yet ''another'' enemy for you to ward off. Whether you decide to win by defending your Castle for an hour of game time or by simply destroying your enemies, you're in for a truly brutal experience.

** Mission 5, "Razzia", begins with the task of destroying a Monastery in three respective Aquitanian villages. For each one you raze though, the Franks will retaliate by guarding the conquered village with a large pack of Paladins, forcing you to flee the area immediately. Afterwards, you'll receive a few villagers to prepare to take down two more opponents (Bordeaux and the Frankish Army), both of which will regularly invade your base with fully upgraded Paladins, Elite Throwing Axemen, Galleons, and siege weapons. On top of that, Bordeaux's fortress takes a ''lot'' of pressure to extinguish, not only due to their ability to spam fighters to the very last production building, but also because their stronghold is primarily surrounded by water, meaning you'll have to deal with their formidable navy at the same time that you're fending off their land units. The Frankish Army's production buildings are divided into multiple small, inland bases, making them easier to besiege by comparison, but dealing with their actual fighters is another matter entirely, especially since they produce Trebuchets. As an extra annoyance, the Frankish Paladins guarding the Aquitanian Villages will stick around for as long as they're alive, so if you need to push out for more resources, you have to be careful not to accidentally aggro the Paladins at the worst possible moment.
* The last Sundjata scenario, "The Lion's Den," is infamously difficult. You start off in the Castle Age, at the eastern corner of the map with a few units and some reasonable amount of resources. Your enemy starts off at the ''Imperial Age'', and will not only attack you constantly, but at some point they'll start ''building a Wonder''. Said enemy is Malian, and makes full advantage of this by sending beefed-up Cavaliers and surprisingly tanky infantry thanks to their pierce armor bonus. To make matter worse, gold is incredibly scarce in this scenario - you have no Relics to capture or allies to trade with, and the best gold deposits are on some heavily-guarded islands. And on top of that, the map is modeled after "Pyrrhus of Epirus" from ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresI'', which was also notorious for its insane difficulty, giving the players an impression on how challenging the first game was. Did we mention that for the ''Definitive Edition'' achievement, this mission is the only one which has to be completed on the hardest difficulty? Thankfully, the mission was made significantly easier in a patch after fans complained about it being virtually impossible to beat (you now start in the Imperial Age, and the AI isn't quite as aggressive anymore), but you'll still need to have good micromanagement and booming skills to build an army strong enough to clear your opponent before time runs out.

** Mission 4, "Crossing the Pyrenees" is a BaselessMission where the player has to cross the harsh cold mountain range to reach the destination with the hero unit and at least one Trade Cart and fifteen military units. The map gimmick is that there are cliff passes that drains the player's units' hitpoints while the alternative route is a heavily fortified fortress. Enemies patrolling the cliffs are not affected by the HP drain and benefit from higher elevation attack bonus by default, meaning that the safest way to cross the mountain range is to lure the patrolling enemies with the hero unit out of the cliff into an ambush, which can easily take up to an hour at least. The only saving grace is that the player is not bound by a timer.

** The final mission, "The Emperor Sleeping," gives you a ten-minute grace period to prepare defenses before the Saracens and Persians wake up and start spamming Elite Mamelukes, Heavy Horse Archers, Onagers, Trebuchets, Monks, and of course Elite War Elephants. The only good news is that you have a competent AI ally for once and the expansions' boost to the elephants' speed is made up for slightly by giving the Teutons access to [[AntiCavalry Halberdiers]]. The bad news is that even if you defeat the Saracens and Persians, you still have to break through Jerusalem's defenses to reach your objective.

** Attila the Hun 5, "Catalaunian Fields," isn't any better. You are told in the briefing that the scenario will play out similarly to a ''multiplayer death match'', meaning everyone starts the battle with a huge pile of resources to immediately spend on an army and base-building. God help you if you're not good at rushing. You ''will'' be attacked frequently and mercilessly by hordes of spammed units, from Elite Cataphracts to Elite Huskarls to Heavy Horse Archers. And if you want the ''Definitive Edition'' achievement, you have to win in half an hour.

** The ''Definitive Edition'' version of "Honfoglalás", while not as brutal as its infamous ''HD'' counterpart, requires a lot of trial and error to complete. To begin with, the first half of the mission has you playing as a "nomadic" civilization, and you won't be able to play normally until you defeat the Avars. Although there are several benefits to being nomadic, this requires you to strategize very differently from a traditional ''Age of Empires II'' scenario. Additionally, you will need to time your transition from nomadic to sedentary gameplay at the perfect moment, as although Great Moravia can be defeated while you're still nomadic (thus sparing you a major threat later in the game), East Francia's invasions will quickly become a severe threat to your weak base as they enter the Imperial Age, not to mention their walled city is impossible to take down without advanced siege weaponry, which requires you to go sedentary. You have the option to defeat the initially benevolent Bulgarians instead, but considering they're even stronger than East Francia, declaring war on them is not the easy route to victory.

** The ''Definitive Edition'' version of "Honfoglalás", while not as brutal as its infamous ''HD'' counterpart, requires a lot of trial and error to complete. To begin with, the first half of the mission has you playing as a "nomadic" civilization; although there are several benefits to this, it requires you to strategize very differently from a traditional ''Age of Empires II'' scenario. Additionally, you will need to time your transition from nomadic to sedentary gameplay at the perfect moment, as although Great Moravia and the Avars can be easily defeated while you're still nomadic, East Francia's walled city is impossible to defeat without advanced siege weaponry (which requires you to go sedentary), not to mention their invasions will quickly become a severe threat as they enter the Imperial Age. You have the option to defeat the initially benevolent Bulgarians instead, but considering they're even stronger than East Francia, declaring war on them is not the easy route to victory.

** The ''Definitive Edition'' version of "Honfoglalás", while not as brutal as its infamous ''HD'' counterpart, requires a lot of trial and error to complete. To begin with, the first half of the mission has you playing as a "nomadic" civilization; although there are several benefits to this, it requires you to strategize very differently from a traditional ''Age of Empires II'' scenario. Additionally, you will need to time your transition from nomadic to sedentary gameplay at the perfect moment, as although Great Moravia and the Avars can be defeated and plundered while you're still nomadic, East Francia's walled city is impossible to defeat without advanced siege weaponry, not to mention their invasions can be a severe threat if you stay nomadic for too long. You have the option to defeat the initially benevolent Bulgarians instead, but considering they're even stronger than East Francia, declaring war on them is not the easy route to victory.

** "Dos Pilas". Sometime after acquiring the titular city, you will face an invasion by Calakmul that's impossible to defeat and given the choice either to flee to Uaxactun and side with Tikal or join forces with Calakmul and take on Tikal. Either way you go, your main opponent has unlimited resources and a large, well-fortified Imperial Age base, forcing you to hurry your economy so that you can match their level of technology. In addition to your main rival, you will also have to contend with any cities that have been captured by hostile forces.
** The ''Definitive Edition'' version of "Honfoglalás", while not as brutal as its infamous ''HD'' counterpart, requires a lot of trial and error to complete because you will need to time your transition from nomadic to sedentary at the perfect moment. Although Great Moravia and the Avars can be defeated and plundered while you're still nomadic, East Francia is impossible to defeat without advanced siege weaponry, and their invasions can be a severe threat if you stay nomadic for too long. You have the option to defeat the initially benevolent Bulgarians instead, but considering they're even stronger than East Francia, declaring war on them is not the easy route to victory.
** The remake of "Cyprus" is one of the grindiest in the entire game because not only does your rival live in a heavily fortified base (made even tougher by the fact that they're Byzantines) and have unlimited resources, but they will ''rebuild their production buildings'' until you slay all of their Villagers and Town Centers. The lack of Relics and the Britons' horrible cavalry certainly don't help.

** The remake of "Cyprus" is one of the grindiest in the entire game because not only does your rival live in a heavily fortified base (made even tougher by the fact that they're Byzantines) and have unlimited resources, but they will ''rebuild their production buildings'' until you slay all of their Villagers and Town Centers. The lack of Relics and the Britons' horrible cavalry certainly doesn't help.

** Attila the Hun 6, "The Fall of Rome." You have four enemies, all of whom try to defeat you with a Wonder victory, all of whom attack you with forces that are difficult to fend off, and all of whom are in fortified cities. Again, there's an achievement involved, this one tasking you with wiping out each city before it can complete its Wonder. It is to some extent a LuckBasedMission since the order in which the cities will begin their Wonders is randomized, and yes, if you hit-and-run to destroy a Wonder but don't finish off that particular faction, they're quite capable of starting construction on a replacement Wonder as soon as you're occupied elsewhere.

* While the majority of the rebooted Alaric campaign in ''Definitive Edition'' is pretty easy, the final mission, "A Kingdom of Our Own", is such a monstrosity that it single-handedly justifies the campaign's three-sword rating on the main menu. Your goal is to construct and defend a Castle in three Gallic cities (Narbo, Tolosa, and Valentia) respectively, while also defending yourself against Sarus. Unfortunately, you have no allies this time around and start with nothing except a few Villagers and a handful of infantry units. Although your huge initial gold supply will help you quickly catch up, it won't take long before Sarus takes full advantage of the Goths' ability to ZergRush, making him virtually ''unstoppable'' until you kill his hero unit. You'd think the latter detail would make things straightforward, but Sarus won't leave the comfort of his town unless driven to desperation, and it's ridiculously hard forcing him out because he can replenish his entire army pretty much the instant you destroy it. Oh, and let's not forget that in the middle of all of that, you're still holding off raids from your three other opponents, so even if you go for Sarus before he can build up his economy, you risk leaving your own base open to annihilation. Of the Gallic cities, Tolosa, in particular, can be a real pain to deal with because they build several Trebuchets alongside the rest of their army each time they assault you. It's during situations like this that you realize how much of a liability the Goths' complete lack of Stone Walls can be. And as if all of this wasn't overwhelming enough, the Western Roman Army will backstab you after you've built your first Castle inside one of the Gallic fortresses, and their Cataphracts will likely give you a hard time as the Goths.
* The ''Definitive Edition'' remake of Dracula 3, "The Breath of the Dragon", is practically as brutal as the real Vlad himself. While the opening phase is simplified, everything after you capture Giurgiu is so absurdly harder that there's almost ''no'' room to screw up. Unlike the original version, where only Darstor and Orsova would regularly invade you, now ''all five enemy towns'' will constantly send armies to attack you. They don't go easy on you, either; their waves of soldiers are always quite large, and while Rahova and Novoselo aren't technologically advanced, their respective bases are incredibly difficult to reach because you have to bypass the aggressive, well-fortified Ottoman base at Darstor along the way, and the rivers have way too many enemy warships to immediately take control of. Meanwhile, as if Orsova's army of cavalry wasn't already bad enough, Obluciza has been quite buffed, as they now start in the Castle Age and will attack you with Boyars, Monks, and siege weapons, in addition to foot archers. Considering Giurgiu is located in the center of the map, you'll barely have a second when you're not desperately protecting yourself using the limited resources on your island. Additionally, two of your opponents will constantly construct Watch Towers on the outskirts of your base, making it hard to venture out for more gold and wood once your supply runs low. Defeating your enemies won't cause them to tribute nearly as many resources as before, so you'll ''need'' to migrate into the danger zone if you want a decent army. Worst of all, unlike the ''HD'' version of the mission, destroying Darstor's allies in ''Definitive Edition'' will barely neuter the city at all, as their resources are basically unlimited, so they'll continue hammering you with Janissaries, Bombard Cannons, Hussars, and Heavy Camel Riders as long as all their military buildings are still standing. As a final slap in the face, you won't win anymore just by destroying their Castle and Mosque, and now must wipe them completely off the map.

** The second mission, "The Battle at the Kalka River", pits you against the Tatars, who are not only extremely aggressive on their own, but are heavily supplemented by the Mongols, whose base is so extensive that they're more or less unbeatable. Because of this, you'll have to plan your attack quickly, or else the incessant Mongol raids will become too overwhelming to deal with any longer. As you're limited to the Castle Age, you must rely on slow Battering Rams to destroy the Tatars' multiple Castles and Towers. There is also an achievement for beating this in the Feudal Age, so you'd better put the Cumans' battering ram bonus to good use ''fast''.
** The third mission, "Saving the Huts", is similar to the previous scenario in that your fragile base will be subjected to constant pressure from both the Tatars and Mongols before your own army is large enough to deal with them, forcing you garrison your villagers in your Town Centers to hold the enemy off while you finish advancing to the Castle Age and improving your army. Worse still, in a sort of perspective reversal of "Pax Mongolica" from the Genghis Khan campaign, Subotai will arrive with reinforcements 40 minutes after you locate your initial base. Since his troops quickly acquire full Imperial Age upgrades while you're restricted to the Castle Age, your army won't be any match for him, forcing you once again to complete your main goals quickly before the Mongols are too much to deal with. By the time you've freed all of the tribes, you better hope that Subotai's army isn't following you to Hungary, since the road leading there is full of Tatar soldiers and defenses that are hard enough to deal with on their own.

** The second mission, "The Battle at the Kalka River", pits you against the Tatars, who are not only extremely aggressive on their own, but are heavily supplemented by the Mongols, whose base is so extensive that they're more or less unbeatable. Because of this, you'll have to plan your attack quickly, or else the incessant Mongol raids will become too overwhelming to deal with any longer. As you're limited to the Castle Age, you must rely on slow Battering Rams to destroy the Tatars' multiple Castles and Towers.

** "The Fate of India," the penultimate scenario, has you and the other three enemy AI players beginning with resources similar to Deathmatch mode. As such, the enemies will swarm you with cavalry, and one of said enemies is the ''Tatars''. The most difficult part? It is a TimedMission similar to a Relic Victory, and you have to destroy the monastery located in each of enemies' bases, although the timer will reset for each monastery destroyed.

** "The Legend of Prithviraj," the final scenario, begins with one of the four bases in each corner of the map. You will also need to acquire the other three (by converting the leaders, where each of them are protected by a small army in each base) to complete the scenario. As it is commanded by a poet who lacks skill at war, you are restricted to ''a [[ArbitraryHeadcountLimit population limit]] of 100, and cannot build new castles and town centers''. Also you cannot train additional villagers, and many valuable resources are located outside the bases. Should you lose all of your villagers, you will have to acquire resources by exchanging food from fishing ships in a market (where you will lose a lot of resources). And did we mention that you also have to defeat three other enemies that constantly harass you?

** "Jihad!", the fifth scenario, has you up against Tiberias, Tyre, and Ascalon. You start out with very few resources, once again stuck in the center of the map, with Tiberias to your east, Tyre to the northwest across the ocean, and Ascalon to the south. Tyre and Tiberias will waste no time in hammering at your little fort, while Ascalon goes for a Wonder victory. Thankfully, the AI for Ascalon occasionally glitches and doesn't take any action, but it's still tough holding off two powerful opponents on both sides. And the worst of all, both Ascalon and Tyre start at the ''Imperial Age'', Tiberias and you start at Castle Age, and your puny ally is stuck at the ''Feudal Age''.