Saturday, April 2, 2011

Battle for Middle Earth 2 - Rise of the Witch-King - Mission 6 - Carn Dûm



Battle for Middle Earth II - Rise of the Witch -King - Mission 6 - Carn Dûm
This is a hint/walkthrough post for Battle for Middle Earth II: Rise of the Witch-King. You can find an index of all our Battle for Middle Earth II posts here.

I found this a very tough mission at the start, not the least because I hadn't expected that the tower trebuchets would have a SHORTER range than the enemy trebuchets.
Also, I could not successfully place Hwaldar's ability to summon Hill-Men (the targeting marker seemed to be red everywhere, indicating a location where the summons could not be placed). Angmar powers that summonned creatures seemed to work fine, however.
Finally, the Witch-King's fear power was utterly useless.

On my first attempt, I put together a force of Snow Trolls to try to run around the enemy and take out their trebuchets. This worked quite well, except there were a seemingly endless stream of trebuchets.
Resources are very tight especially initially and if you cannot defend your Mills (by keeping the enemy engaged and not letting them run loose too much). Definitely build a lot of them when you have time. You probably won't have much time later during the attack waves.

One of the keys to an easier time here is to use Hwaldar's leadership bonuses. You can get both increased attack ability and Resources this way. Build a Hall of the King's Men and queue a lot of Thrall Masters. Most should end up being Axe Throwers, with two or at most three battalions of Spearmen. No Wolf Riders because there are a heck of a lot of elven pikemen in this mission.
Thrall Masters are cheap to build, so you can assemble a good-sized force to hold the outermost wall. You are really only doing this for as long as you can in order to get resources for a final stand later as there will be an overwhelming number of elves.

Another key to a solid defense is to use Troll Stone Throwers. Place them near the walls to fire over them and at the enemy as they try to break their way in. Keep them in at least two groups so that if one group is rushed, you can probably still continue firing (or give covering fire) from the other group. They also only cost 25 Command Points but if allowed to fire freely can do devastating damage.

The Elves will also go after the Witch-King directly, with several battalions of high-veterancy Lindon Horse Archers beelining for him. When that happens, retreat him to the innermost wall. When the pursuers enter the space between the middle and inner walls, shut the gates to trap them inside. They will try to fight their way out, but mostly get cut down by trebuchets and arrow towers.

If you lose the outer wall, leave your troops behind and retreat your heroes to the innermost wall. Hopefully by this time you will have accumulated a good amount of Resources not only from your Mills but from Hwaldar's leadership. Build a similar force to defend the inner wall. Builders can throw up towers to be garrisoned (or to give your Witch-King respite from pursuit) if there is spare cash.

Using the types of units mentioned above, plus all the Summon powers available, I didn't need Rogash's reinforcements to defend Carn Dûm.

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