Recap / Age of Empires II – Battles of the Conquerors

Recap pages are Spoilers Off by default, so in all these pages all spoilers are unmarked. Proceed with caution. You Have Been Warned

Battle of the Conquerors is a series of free, unrelated scenarios depicting various historical battles across the Middle Age with different conditions, players and objectives. In Definitive Edition, those scenarios and Battle of the Forgotten were gathered together as "Historical Battles".

List of Scenarios (Chronological order)

Tours (732)

Following their victories in Spain, the Berbers have crossed the Pyrenees and are now invading Aquitania and threatening France. King Charles Martel leads a mighty force to meet the Muslims in battle and crush them at Poitiers.

The player is in control of the Franks, the color being Red.

Vinlandsaga (1000)

In the frozen wastes of Scandinavia, the bold explorer Erik the Red decides to explore the sea, searching for new expanses of land for his people. Fighting Britons, rival Vikings and wild beasts, Erik must find a way to cross the Sea of Worms and reach the fabled new world where the Skraelings lie in wait...

The player is in control of the Vikings, the color being Red.

Hastings (1066)

Harold the Saxon is currently ruling over Britain, but two contenders oppose him: Harald Haardrada in Norway, and William the Conqueror in Normandy. The Normans prepare to cross the sea, facing the deadly Saxon navy, to take over London and bring the Saxon's rule to an end.

The player is in control of Franks, the color being Blue.

Manzikert (1071)

The Byzantine rule in the Middle East is hampered by the ferocity of the Turks. With a small but well-equipped army, you'll have to raid and submit several Byzantine villages before taking on the mighty enemy forces and crush them under your hooves.

The player is in control of the Turks, the color being Purple.

Agincourt (1415)

Having failed to conquer Harfleur, the tired army of Henry V finds itself in dire straits in France. The King has to make his way across the French lands and cities to find a way to reach England safe and sound.

The player is in control of the Britons, the color being Red.

Lepanto (1571)

The mighty fleet of the Ottoman Empire is a threat to all of Europe. A coalition of Spanish and Italian warships prepares to face these mighty opponents at Lepanto. Will Don Juan be able to repel the Turks?

The player is in control of the Spanish, the color being Red.

Kyoto (1582)

Unifier Oda Nobunaga has been betrayed by his vassal Akechi Mitsuhide and dies in the burning Honnoji. Nobunaga's right hand man, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, has heard the news, and hurries his armies to Kyoto to punish the traitorous army.

The player is in control of Japanese, the color being Cyan.

Noryang Point (1598)

Korea is threatened by the Japanese invasion ordered by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, which is threatening the coast with their ships. The Koreans and their allies must bide their time, as their Admiral works on an invention that could potentially change the tides of the war...

The player is in control of the Koreans, the color being Red.

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These scenarios contains examples of:

• Artistic License – History
  • Erik the Red never actually reached America in person, but had to stop in Greenland, while his son, Leif Erikson, led the expedition there. He instead established the first permanent, successful settlement on Greenland, yet curiously, there are already Vikings there when he arrives. His family's banishment to Iceland, and his own exile, leading to his discovery of Greenland, is also omitted.
  • Harald Haardrada and William didn't cooperate to invade England, but invaded at different times, with Harald meeting his end at Stamford Bridge. Harold Godwinson also did not stage an invasion of Normandy, so the faction "Harold's Raiders" is out of place.
  • Henry the V actually conquered Harfleur, but his army was forced to retreat due to dysentery, among other things.
  • While Oda Nobunaga was assassinated at Kyoto, Hideyoshi was busy fighting in Shikoku at the time, and by the time he got back to Honshu he managed to nail Mitsuhide in Yamazaki, not Kyoto. Also, Akechi Mitsuhide isn't mentioned.
• Bambification: A bug in "Vinlandsaga" causes deer to attack an outpost if the player has not built a Blacksmith yet.
• Baseless Mission: Agincourt (one of the Battles of the Conquerors) gives you no base and no way to obtain one; justified, as your forces are survivors of a failed campaign, in the middle of enemy territory.
• Cosmetic Award:
  • The HD Edition has "Battles of the Conquerors Campaign Completed":
    "Through study of these diverse battles and leaders you have mastered skills that will be useful in all of your future conquests. Fight with the piety of Charles Martel, the bravery of Alp Arslan, and the calculating tactics of Hideyoshi to ensure success in your campaigns."
  • Since DE fused both "Battles of the Conquerors" with "Battles of the Forgotten", the respective achievements have been fused into "Battle Beast".
  • DE has a few for these scenarios: "Eternal Gratitude"^note Encounter a Penguin in "Vinlandsaga", "Battleship"^note Win "Lepanto" without allowing any Turkish Transport Ship to unload on your shores and "The Wonder, the Wonder, the... Oh, Never Mind"^note Prevent the Korean Wonder from being destroyed in "Noryang Point".
• Downer Beginning:
  • Agincourt starts with Henry's demoralized army trying to make it back to England.
  • Kyoto starts with Nobunaga's assassination and Hideyoshi trying to make a base to take revenge on the traitors.
• Failure Is the Only Option: "Kyoto" begins as a mission to rescue Oda Nobunaga, but he is executed before your troops can arrive. (The rest of the mission is a Roaring Rampage of Revenge)
• Gameplay and Story Segregation:
  • Not even the two Mesoamerican civilizations would be a good match as Skraelings, so the closest Ensemble would find to represent them are Celts with Militias and Woad Raiders. The Definitive Edition still keeps them as Celts, but uses a feature that changes their civilization name to Skraelings^note so they're presented as "Skraelings (Skraelings)" instead of "Skraelings (Celts)", and the Woad Raiders reskinned as Algonquian Warriors^note Also themselves using an editor trick since "Iroquois Warrior" is an Editor unit in DE
  • The Battle of Lepanto is described as a naval battle, as it was famously both the largest naval battle since classical antiquity and the last major engagement fought almost entirely with rowing vessels. The scenario is instead a Defend the Wonder Protection Mission.
• Good Bad Bugs: One infamous bug in Vinlandsaga has a region which sets off a nature aggression trigger, where wolves were meant to attack your starting settlement, but it also enables deer to attack buildings. That bug has been rectified in the Definitive Edition.
• Grimy Water: The Sea of Worms in "Vinlandsaga" is simply the ocean area south of Greenland covered in a huge tile trigger that will destroy your ships if they wander in for too long.
• Here There Be Dragons: The Sea of Worms in "Vinlandsaga", a tract of ocean which destroys all your ships and forces you to take over Greenland to proceed: upon defeating them, the whole map is revealed to show that the Sea of Worms is in the shape of a giant serpent.
• The Hero Dies: Oddly enough, Charles Martel can die, with no consequence on the scenario's story, and the outro mentons that he survived nevertheless. In Noryang Cape even if Yi-Sun Shin survives, the narration mentions that he died in the naval battle.
• Hero Must Survive: Subverted in the Kyoto scenario. Your first objective is to save Oda Nobunaga from the siege his castle is suffering... except you cannot save him. Once he dies, you get a new objective in order to avenge his death.
• Historical Villain Downgrade: Since he's only there for the initial minute or so, none of Oda Nobunaga's infamous exploits (which may have caused his death) are mentioned.
• Just a Stupid Accent:
  • In "Vinlandsaga", Erik the Red speaks with a Swedish Accent.
  • Harald Hardrada, the King of Norway, from "Hastings", speaks with a Swedish accent. Yet Harald was away in the East for decades with the Varangians, who were usually Swedish…
• Perspective Flip:
  • Charles Martel fights the invading Moors at "Tours". In The African Kingdoms, Tariq ibn Ziyad has you play as the Moors and ends just before Tours.
  • "Kyoto" has Hideyoshi taking over for Oda Nobunaga, eventually uniting Japan and later (after the events of the scenario) building up the invasion of Korea. "Noryang Point" has the Koreans defending their country from the invading Japanese.
  • Joan of Arc fought the English in her campaign. "Agincourt" has Henry V fight the French 15 years earlier (which effectively won the war^note The battle lead to the Treaty of Troyes, with France accepting Henry V as the successor to Charles VI. This all fell apart when both kings died within two months of each other, which lead to hostilities resuming in 1429).
• Protection Mission:
  • "Lepanto" has you building and defending a Wonder to show your superiority to the Turks. You have to complete it and resist the Turkish attacks by sea and by land to protect it. If it's destroyed, you lose.
  • The achievement "The Wonder, the Wonder, the... Oh, Never Mind" requires you to protect the Korean wonder from all attacks in "Noryang Point".
• Red Is Heroic: Most of this scenarios have your faction in red. Curiously enough, two of the non-red players you control (Turks and Japanese) appear in later scenarios as the villains opposed to a red player.
• Savage Wolves: Ornlu, the King Wolf of Norway in "Vinlandsaga", is a unique hero unit with stats far beyond those of regular wolves. Ornlu previously appeared in the first Genghis Khan level, "The Crucible."
• Secret Weapon: The Turtle Ship in Cape Noryang are this, allowing you to turn the tide in the naval battle against the Japanese fleet.
• Timed Mission: During the "Kyoto" scenario, if the namesake enemy is left alone long enough, it attempts to win via collecting the five relics at its disposal, giving the player very limited time to either reach and destroy the monastery in order to buy some time, or complete the scenario by destroying the castles.
• Took a Level in Badass: Harold Hardraada was actually present in the Scenario Editor of Age of Kings... as an heroic Monk ^note  possibly referencing the fact that Harold did converted to Christianity unit with greater speed of movement and conversion. Conquerors switched him for Harald Hardraada, a souped-up Berserker who attacks by lobbing his axe at the enemies from afar.

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