The Lord of the Rings - The Battle for Middle Earth 2 _______ _ ____ _ _ _ __ |__ __| | | _ | | | | | | / _| | | | |__ ___ | |_) | __ _| |_| |_| | ___ | |_ ___ _ __ | | | '_ / _ | _ < / _` | __| __| |/ _ | _/ _ | '__| | | | | | | __/ | |_) | (_| | |_| |_| | __/ | || (_) | | |_| |_| |_|___| |____/ __,_|__|__|_|___| |_| ___/|_| __ __ _ _ _ _ ______ _ _ ___ | / (_) | | | | | | ____| | | | | |__ | / |_ __| | __| | | ___ | |__ __ _ _ __| |_| |__ ) | | |/| | |/ _` |/ _` | |/ _ | __| / _` | '__| __| '_ / / | | | | | (_| | (_| | | __/ | |___| (_| | | | |_| | | | / /_ |_| |_|_|__,_|__,_|_|___| |________,_|_| __|_| |_| |____| <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> <>The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth 2<> <>Good side campaign walkthrough <> <>By Michael Consolvo <> <>Started: 3/24/07 Finished: 4/11/07 <> <>Contact: mconsolvo@live.com <> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Copyright (C) 2008 (Michael Consolvo) <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> <> TABLE OF CONTENTS <> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> |1..............INTRODUCTION............... | |2..............VERSION HISTORY............ | |3..............WALKTHROUGH................ | | 3.1 Rivendell | | 3.2 The High Pass | | 3.3 The Ettenmoors | | 3.4 The Blue Mountains | | 3.5 The Grey Havens | | 3.6 Celduin | | 3.7 Erebor | | 3.8 Dol Guldur | |4..............CLOSING.................... | |--------------------------------------------| <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> 1 INTRODUCTION 1 <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Hello, my name is Michael Consolvo. I hope you find this guide useful during the time you play The Battle for Middle Earth 2. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it and I sincerely hope you enjoy the game. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> 2 VERSION HISTORY 2 <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> 3/24/07 Put in all the beginning stuff. Finished the first and second campaign levels. 3/26/07 Finished the third mission for the good guys. 3/27/07 Started on the fourth mission, The Blue Moutains, for the good campaign. 3/30/07 Finished the fourth mission and started on the fifth, the Grey Havens. 4/3/07 Finished the Grey Havens mission. Talk about a lot of writing and note taking. I had to try out a few different strategies before I found one that worked. Also finished mission 6, Celduin. 4/8/07 Finished mission 7, Erebor. Only one more to go. 4/11/07 Finished the walkthrough. 11/27/08 Decided for some strange reason to come back, completely edit the guide and submit it. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> 3 WALKTHROUGH 3 <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> 3.1 Rivendell ************* Lets get started shall we? You start off this good campaign with the Elven Lord Glorfindel and a battalion of Lorien Warriors in a heavily wooded area. Peaceful right? Well ..not really as you soon encounter some goblins who are eager to have some Elven entrails for a snack. Your first objective is to get Glorfindel and his buddies to Rivendell to warn Elrond and the inhabitants of the incoming goblin army. Move your battalion, with Glorfindel at the head, forward and you should meet the first goblin battalion you will encounter. You should be able to waste these beasts easily, since Lorien Warriors are stronger than the typical goblin swordsmen, and your Lorien Warrior battalion is level 2 to boot. After they are killed, continue on through the forest. Now youll encounter some more Lorien Warriors, fighting while outnumbered against two goblin battalions. The goblins have already been weakened by your friends in need of aid and you have the element of surprise, so hit them from behind and slaughter them. A new objective will come up requiring you to purchase a power from your Evenstar. Go ahead and click the Evenstar. The best power for you to get at this point is Heal or Elven Gifts. Either one helps you in beneficial ways. Now move your battalions and your hero forward and you will come upon a Mallorn Tree being attacked by some more goblins. Theyll end up destroying it before you can do anything, and then you clash with them. Along with the single goblin battalion you are engaging, you will be attacked by a battalion of goblin archers. Use the Heal power on your troops, since the elves you rescued before are weak to begin with and probably wont make it through this clash without the help of Heal. Fight through the goblin swordsmen to reach the enemy archers, who should die quickly, and continue through the woods. You meet another battalion of goblin archers. Hack through them, and even more goblins spring on you, these being the swordsmen type. Once all the goblins in this area are dead, you should have taken some heavy losses. The battalion you saved before should be decimated, if not wiped out completely, and your remaining forces are weak. But you are about to be strengthened as you reach the foot of the bridge leading up to Rivendells front gate and find two Lorien Warrior battalions fighting a goblin force of about equal number. After destroying these goblins, the two battalions you aided should be in fair shape. Move your forces over the bridge. Stop and enjoy the scenery for a while also. The graphical excellence of those waterfalls on your right is simply breathtaking, a fine way to capture the peace and tranquility of a place like Rivendell. Alright, now get your head back into the game. Move Glorfindel and company up to Rivendells gate, which should open for you. You now receive a new objective; find Elrond and warn him about the goblins. Youll find him in the very back of the Elven city, in front of his house (which would make Bill Gates stammer), conversing with his Dwarven buddy, Gloin, who you will get to know very well throughout the campaign. Now move your troops over to the two. A little scene will ensue in which Glorfindel gives warning. Now, you must train some more Lorien Warriors, since your current forces just arent going to cut it. Click on the nearest Elven Barracks and train three or four Lorien Warrior battalions, which should be more than enough. A new bonus objective will come up, tasking you to get Gloin to level 3. This is pretty easy, as long as you keep him in front of your army and in the thick of the action. By the time you get at least one Lorien Warrior battalion trained, the first wave of goblins will strike (after some of those creepy drums sound in the distance). Meet them with your current troops. Despite the enemys greater numbers, you should kill them with ease. After they are defeated, some Lorien Archers will show up to aid you, two battalions of them. Place them behind your three heroes and your Lorien Warriors and wait for the next attack. Dont forget to transfer your freshly trained Lorien Warriors from the front of the barracks they were made at to the front lines for fighting. And now that Lorien Archers have become available, build three or four battalions of them as well. After a few seconds, a few more goblin battalions will attack, bringing with them a Mountain Giant. The Mountain Giant will throw rocks at your Elven Barracks that youve been fighting close to. After the attacking goblins are dead, get all your elves and take down the Mountain Giant. Hell probably destroy your barracks just before you kill him. After he is dead, two cave trolls join the fun. Take care of these guys any way you can, but they should die pretty quickly, since they are going after buildings, not your units. Arwen joins you now, leading two battalions of Rivendell Lancers. You can leave her mounted once she and her troops have joined with your defenders or you can dismount her and have her fight with your swordsmen. Either way works fine. Upon arrival, she informs you of a goblin encampment that has been established across the river. Gather your full forces, heroes in front, and head for the bridge. Long before you reach the bridge however, a goblin battalion enters Rivendell through the front gate. You should be able to slaughter them pretty darn quickly with your nice sized army. Once youve gotten your army across the bridge, youll find a lumber camp first. Destroy it and kill the orc laborers. Now you can start your assault on the goblin camp. The Eagles that you were informed of earlier show up now, making your attack force even more intimidating. There really is no huge strategy for this attack, just clean the camp of goblins, giants, and trolls and then take down the buildings. Trash the enemy with your Eagles in various ways, having them attack buildings, where they do tons of damage, or enemy units. Destroy the camp and you get to have a final showdown with the boss of this level. You should have lost a little over half of your attack force during the destruction of the goblin encampment and you will probably lose the rest of it during this final battle. A giant worm pops out of the ground and it seems pretty pissed. If theres nothing in sight for it to kill immediately, itll burrow underground and emerge in the middle of your units. Its flame attack should do in most of your units in the area pretty quickly. Use the Eagles and heroes to take this thing down pretty quick. The Eagles take off huge chunks of damage each time, so this beast should be no problem. After it is defeated, you have officially won the level. Good job! :) 3.2 The High Pass ***************** You start this mission out with Glorfindel and Gloin who are leading three battalions of Lorien Warriors. You have a Fortress and two Builders and your first objective is to build up a suitable base before facing the dangers of the High Pass. First, you need to build a Mallorn Tree, and then a barracks. After you have built those, you need to construct a Green Pasture, and then a Battle Tower. Hold on, we arent done building yet. Click on one of the building foundations surrounding your fortress and choose to build a watch tower. Once that is done, you are required to build some Rivendell Lancers and Lorien Archers. After you have a battalion of Rivendell Lancers and one or two battalions of Lorien Archers, your base should be well established. It will cut to a brief glimpse of the goblin bases and their forces and task you to destroy them. Gather your forces and head into the High Passes. You will come upon two goblin caves with goblins swarming everywhere. They still dont outnumber you, though. Make quick work of them, and destroy the two goblin caves. Afterwards, your troops should be in good shape, but use Heal on them to get them revitalized for more fighting. Now, you can choose to take the right path or the left path from here. Choose the left and you will meet three goblin battalions and a Mountain Giant. You will also receive a new objective, requiring you to kill all the Mountain Giants in the High Passes. Right as you are about to attack the beast, a flimsy ice tower falls in front of you, forcing you to find an alternative route. Take the right path back at the intersecting entrance to the passes. You will stumble upon a goblin cave. Go ahead and destroy it. This will trigger three goblin archer battalions to come out and attack you. Make quick work of them, and get ready for a big fight. A crapload of goblins will start to pour down the mountain pass towards you, accompanied by a Mountain Giant. You are going to take some heavy losses if you go toe to toe with them, but you should come out victorious. Use Heal as soon as the last enemy falls. After all of the goblins are dead and you have used Heal continue and destroy the wild goblin cave in your way, gathering the riches that it leaves behind. Farther on down the path, you will come to another intersection. I suggest taking the path to the right to destroy the goblin foothold there, which consists of a few goblin battalions, a goblin watch tower, a wild goblin cave, and a wild troll cave. You shouldnt take too many casualties, as long as you take care of the troll quickly, before it can trash your swordsmen. At this point, just keep your troops in this small area, to let the banners bring units back. Also, if you have lost enough troops, you may have room to build more. Go ahead and take any freshly made units and meet them up with your current forces in the pass. Now, head back to the intersection and go left this time. Kill the Mountain Giant in your way, who shouldnt be much of a problem, and the camera immediately switches to an elf in fancy armor, surrounded by goblins with only a few soldiers left fighting for him. Thats Haldir and hes in need of some aid. His health cant decline while you are on your way to save him, only when you actually get there. Continue on down the path and after dealing with two goblin battalions in your way, turn left and rescue Haldir, slaughtering his attackers. Destroy the goblin cave in that location too. There is another goblin cave, farther to the left, so sweep it up before heading back to the intersection you just fought the two goblin battalions in. You should find a newly arrived goblin archer battalion and goblin swordsmen battalions, kill them, and take the path to the left. Your forces should be much larger and stronger now that Haldir has joined you, but we dont want to go right and assault the goblin camp just yet. To the left, destroy the wild goblins and their cave standing in your way. Go on up the path, and you come to two watch towers on each side of the entrance to this small camp. Destroy them, and any goblins that spawn from the goblin cave just inside the entrance, then destroy the cave. Go deeper into the camp and destroy the Giant Fissure before any giants can spawn from it. You should be fine in terms of troops and health for them, but Heal all your units one more time before assaulting the goblin camp. This attack really shouldnt cause you to break a sweat. First, take down the two watch towers lining each side of the path into the goblin camp. You meet new enemies here called Spider Riders, but they arent really anything special. Get them out of your way for good and start attacking the camp. Destroy the Giant Fissure, the watch tower, and the goblin cave. OK, now time to assault the inner part of the camp. But wait! The foe has summoned The Watcher AKA the giant, ugly octopus looking creature that attacked the Fellowship in front of the entrance to Moria in the first LOTR movie. Move your forces out of its range as quickly as possible, to avoid having them completely wiped out. Let your heroes do the primary damage, with your archers firing arrows safely from a distance. The creature should be taken down relatively quick, but you will probably take a few losses if you didnt move your troops out in enough time, but no biggie, as you wont need them very much after the Watcher is dead. After The Watcher is killed, destroy the watch tower to your right and attack the goblin cave ahead of you. All you have to deal with is one battalion of goblins. Once they have been killed, destroy the goblin cave, and victory is yours! 3.3 The Ettenmoors ****************** You start out this mission commanding our three heroes and two Lorien Warrior battalions sporting nice Heavy Armor and Forged Blades upgrades. Some distressed villagers come and tell you about an elven settlement up the road that needs aid because they are being overrun by some major goblin forces. Haldir leaves to go get some reinforcements. Move your forces forward, staying true to the path, then turn left and meet some Lorien Archers. These guys have an upgrade called Silverthorn Arrows which as you'll find out can yield some pretty devastating results for your foe. You'll get to use them right away because some goblins will attack you. Kill them, and you'll stumble on a tunnel that the enemy uses to transport their forces around the map. Many goblins are guarding it, so you won't destroy it without taking some losses. If your battalions need it, use Heal and continue to meet some goblin archers and some spiders. The spiders are weaker than your normal goblin soldier, so they shouldn't be much of a problem. The land is clear between you and the besieged Elven camp. The Elves there are outnumbered but once you join in, you should kill the goblins pretty quick. When they are defeated, Haldir arrives with reinforcements and you get a new objective. Now you must travel through land infested with nasty goblins and awaken a dormant Ent Moot and the large wooden giants who reside in it. They are really good against buildings, so you can use them to break down the walls of this Goblin King's fortress that you are assaulting later on. Haldir brings two battalions of the powerful Mirkwood Archers, who are pretty tough, especially with the Silverthorn upgrade. Let your battalions regenerate while fending off enemy attacks on your fortress. Once they are fully regenerated, move your forces forward. Don't bother to leave any behind at the base. Your fortress will survive longer than it takes you to take down the Goblin King. Kill the cave troll that gets in your way as you keep moving forward, then head left and kill the troll up the hill and destroy his lair. Then make your way to the big drum that is apparently supposed to call Mountain Giants and destroy it before it can. Head back down the hill and get back on the line you were on, razing the enemy tunnel in your way. Keep going and you should meet some goblin swordsmen and spiders, as well as be ambushed by some goblin archers. Kill all of these, and you should be able to pretty quickly, and turn right once you reach the top left half of the map. The Ent Moot is in sight! You'll need to fight for it, because some goblin archers and hideous spiders appear. They should give you too much trouble. Now head for the Ent Moot and kill the troll guarding it to gain control of it. Build Treebeard at your Ent Moot, and while you are waiting for your battalions to regenerate, use Heal on all your warriors to get them ready for the assualt on the enemy camp. Once all your battalions have regenerated and Treebeard has been created, it's time to kill the Goblin King! Move your full force forward and the walls of the Goblin King's fortress should become visible. Have Treebeard batter the wall with rocks while your heroes and units guard him and also destroy the other enemy buildings outside the wall. You will be attacked by some spiders and a lot of goblin archer battalions, but they should prove no match for you. Once the wall is broken down, swarm the base with all your strength. Have your heroes focus on the Goblin King, who should be dead pretty quick if you fight him with all three heroes and then turn your attention to his soldiers and eventually his fortress. The Goblin King dead and his forces crushed, all you need to do is take down his fortress and victory is yours. Use Gloin's Shake Foundation special ability to weaken the building considerably, then destroy the rest of the way with your remaining troops and you've completed mission! Good job! 3.4 The Blue Mountains ********************** This is the first mission in which you get to play the as the Dwarves in the whole campaign. Their units have very good defense, but they aren't that great in terms of the damage they dish out, so keep the Elves that you start out alive so you can get a needed boost when attacking the enemy. You start with Gloin and Glorfindel with two battalions of Mirkwood Archers and one battalion of Lorien Warriors, and join up with the Dwarves at their base outside of a cave, who have two battalions of Axe Throwers and one battalion of Guardians. The dragon will come and start destroying everything while your troops flee into the cave. Move your forces a little more into it and you should meet a bunch of spiders and about three Spider Lairs. Kill all of these ugly beasts, destroy their lairs, and build a Fortress on the captured land. Now you've got a base away from that physco dragon. Along with your Fortress, build an Archery Range, Mine Shaft, and Hall of Warriors. Make sure your Mine Shaft is in a good spot to produce maximum resources. If you can manage to build another Mine Shaft without getting it too far away from the area, do so. That way you won't have to worry about saving up resources for unit production. I had room in CP limit for two more battalions of Axe Throwers, so build them if you have room. You'll need ranged units when taking on the dragon, so make sure you have plenty of Axe Throwers, and that you have a Dwarven Forge Works, where you can purchase upgrades. Get the Banner Carrier upgrade, Forged Blades, and Mithril Mail. The Banner upgrade is at your Hall of Warriors. Once you have all these upgrades, upgrade your battalions, and it's time to find that dragon lair. Move your army around the bend to the right and into the open, where you should find two Goblin Tunnels. Destroy these and the goblins in your way. The dragon will come and attack, and probably kill a good chunk of your forces, but you can't do anything about that, so just take the losses, and cross the bridge to demolish the Goblin Cave, Spider Pit, and the Goblin Tunnel there. Deal with anything that gets in your way. Capture the signal fire building with one of your heroes. After this area is cleaned up, be aware of the wall cracking open over by the signal fire, and some spiders pouring out of it. Deal with these little pests, and don't go into the area they came out of. You don't need to worry about it. Now, a scene will ensue in which some Spider Riders come out of these big double doors across the next bridge, which open up into the cave containing the dragon lair. They should go down relatively easily. Now you recieve a new objective. Very simple. destroy the door guarding the caves into the dragon's lair. Gloin should be able to level it with Shake Foundation, and if that doesn't demolish it, use his Slam, which should bring it the rest of the way down. Hurry your forces into the caves because that insane dragon is back and he'll be ripping up your forces if you dont get them out of harm's way. There should be a few enemies at the entrance right when you get in, but they shouldn't a problem for your army. Kill them, and then bring a Builder all the way to the area. Build a Mine Shaft here, so you can transport units from your base to here very quickly. Also, if your units need some revitalization, use Heal on them. Don't forget that if you have CP room for another battalion or another few battalions, to build them, and send them by the Mine Shaft, if it's built already, or on foot. Once you're done making preparations, move your army through the archway to the right of them. Keep moving forward and you should be surprised by some Spider Riders from behind and from the right. Protect your ranged units, since you will need them most of all up ahead, and make Gloin and Glorfindel take the brunt of the fighting. They should take down both companies with ease, along with the pesky mini spiders that come from all directions. Lastly, take down the Mountain Giant farther down the path. OK, you've got that obstacle out of the way. You're getting closer to the lair. Move your forces forward and you should see a left bend coming up. Send forth only Glorfindel and Gloin, because a Fire Drake wull attack, and they will probably wipe out your infantry with one fire blast, so keep them out of there. It should go down pretty quickly with both heroes on it. Once it's dead, take that Builder that built the first Mine Shaft back at the cave entrance and have him construct one here. Take the left turn and you should come upon a small gate a little ways up that path. Use Gloin's Shake Foundation to get it out of the way and rush your heroes and infantry in first, to take the full charge of a few battalions of Spider Riders. There are also some goblin archers battalions, so take them out too. If you are low in terms of units from this battle, create more and transport them to the area via the Mine Shaft you built a little ways back. OK, once all these enemies in your way are dead, we come at last to the dragon lair. The dragon doesn't appear at first, but he's lurking somewhere inside. A gate is in blocking your way in. Use Gloin to destroy it and place Glorfindel and the rest of your melee forces in front of your ranged units. Before the gate is destroyed, some spiders should jump over the walls and start attacking. They aren't that difficult to deal with, so take them down. Once the gate is destroyed, rush in your melee forces and fight the Spider Riders inside. Make sure none of the enemy reach your ranged units during the attack. The dragon will now show his ugly face. Let your Axe Throwers and Mirkwood Archers concentrate on him while your heroes and melee units deal with his army. Those scales don't do him much good, because he should be dead soon, as long as you keep your ranged units away from the battle raging inside his lair. Once his health bar reaches zero, you've completed your mission and saved the Blue Mountains! Congratulations! 3.5 The Grey Havens ******************* You start out with Gloin and Glorfindel of course, along with three battalions of Mithlond Sentries, two battalions of Lorien Archers, a battalion of Guardians, who Gloin sends back to the Blue Mountains to call for aid. Your first objcetive is to clear the Grey Havens of Corsairs, which is relatively easy. Move your troops towards the port city, commanding your Lorien Archers to take down the Corsairs running down the path to their right. Move your heroes and Mithlond Sentries into the city and deal with the first battalion of Corsairs you encounter in melee combat. They shouldn't be that hard to deal with. Once they are out of the way, head down the causeway leading to the shipyards and defeat the Corsairs battalion coming from there. Ignore the battalion attacking that Fortress because the arrows coming from the Fortress should take care of it. Now that the Corsairs attacking the city have been destroyed, you must capture the two shipyards in the city and create your own fleet. Send Glorfindel to capture one and Gloin to capture the other. Once they are in your hands, build five Elven Warships These ships will make up the backbone of your navy. Once all five are created, select them all at the same time and buy their two avaliable upgrades to increase armor and health ratings. Now you can destroy the first line of Corsair battle ships. They should equal you in number, and since your ships are stronger, they should be no match for you. Move your ships a little ways out of the harbor to clash with them. I lost two ships and had one moderately damaged in this fight, but that won't matter, because once you've broken through the first line of five Corsair ships, six more come and attack you. Your weakened ships are pretty much no match for them, so immediately start creating more ships at your shipyard. Build two Elven Storm Ships along with three Elven Warships. Send both of your Storm Ships to attack the six Corsairs, who have made a naval blockade across the mouth of your harbor, and have them focus on two different ships, so you don't miss killing any of them. Once the Storm ship is destroyed it will make a whirlpool that will engulf all the ships in its path, even your own, so keep your Warships out of this battle. After the blockade is destroyed, your next objective is to find the shipyards where the Corsairs are massing their fleets and capture them. Build one or two more Warships and two transports. Make sure to repel any Corsair ships that try to attack the harbor. Also, keep your ships upgraded, so they are a more formidable escort for your transports. Once the transports are finished and the Warships are upgraded, load up your battalions into the transports and start out across the water towards the exposed location of the Corsair shipyards. If there are Corsair ships stationed at the mouth of the harbor, destroy them and continue, but make sure your transports don't get mixed up in the fighting. The transports are a lot slower than the Warships, so you may need to stop and let them catch up a few times. Save your game as soon as you make it into the open water, because you may have to try the next part over and over again so you don't lose any transports. Once you get close to the opposite shore, where the Corsair shipyards are stationed, back your transports out and away from the shore and send forth your Warships. There are quite a bit of Corsair ships guarding the shipyards, so destroy all of them before sending the transports in. Make sure the transports have safe passage to the shore, and once you drop off your battalions and your two heroes, get the transports back and surround them with your warships. There should be two or three Corsair battalions guarding the shipyards. If you get all your battalions safely to the shore, you should deal with them no problem. Use Glorfindel and Gloin to capture the Corsair shipyards, and hurriedly pack them and half of your battalions back into the transports. Leave one or two battalions to deal with Corsair battalions that will occasionally attack you, trying to capture their shipyards. Send your two heroes and company back across the water, and make it quick. Keep Warships to the front and back of the transports, because now the enemy will launch a huge fleet that will try to attack you. Save at this point also, so you can load it back if you lose any transports. They probably won't catch up to you by the time you have your troops safely across the water. Move your heroes and troops to the entrance of the city, where the grass turns into the cobblestoned streets of Mithlond, and use the Elven Barracks right next to them to make some fresh units. Use Heal on your current units, because the enemy will drop off a whole bunch of goblins and Half Troll Marauders, that will try to get past you and burn the port city to the ground. You may also want to build a few more Mallorn Trees and an Eregion Forge, to upgrade newly produced units and produce extra resources that you will need. After producing more units, you should have two battalions of Lorien Warriors, three battalions of Mithlond sentries and two battalions of Lorien Archers. Along with Glorfindel and Gloin, this will be more than enough to repel the first attack. While fighting, keep your Evenstar powers in mind. I haven't really talked about them much, mostly because they are yours to use as you please, and are self explanatory, but if you find yourself losing this first battle, you should summon Tom Bombadil, which you should have purchased over the course of the first four missions. He's pretty badass, and and his one ability can turn the tide of the battle immediately. If you don't need Bombadil, save him for the last two attacks, just in case you do need him. He won't kill tons of units but all of his attacks take an enemy's health down a lot, making them easy prey for your troops. Once the first wave is taken care of, your army should be in bad shape, you have a few minutes before the next wave comes, so build up your forces and upgrade guys where they need them. If you want to, you can build defensive structures around the battlefield, like Battle Towers and Heroic Statues, to give your troops a boost, but it's not recommended, and usually will waste resources that you could use to upgrade your troops. Horns sound and surprise! The dwarves from the Blue Mountains come to your aid. Two battalions of Guardians and two battalions of Axe Throwers, along with two Battlewagons and three Builders is a welcome boost. Add them to your current forces and wait for the next attack wave to sweep over you. The second wave will consist of more Troll Marauders and goblins, both archer type and swordsmen type. Nothing you can't handle. You may lose some dwarven battalions, but if you have your elves upgraded all the way with armor upgrades and weapon upgrades, along with Silverthorn Arrows, you should have minimal losses to your Elven troops. Once the second attack wave is wiped out, you better get ready for the third, because the enemy will be bringing it hard. Not only do they have Half Troll Marauders and goblins, they also have some nasty Spider Riders. Make sure your ranged units are guarded by your melee units, which you should have upgraded all the way, and build plenty of units, until you've reached your cap. Even if you can't upgrade all your battalions in enough time, just get as many soldiers possible on the front lines. Keep Glorfindel and Gloin up front, and if they get hurt, use Heal on them, which should be regenerated by now. Try to kill all the Spider Riders first, as they will give you the most grief. Before or during the battle, some Corsairs should sneak attack your base from behind. Ignore them. While attacking the Fortress, they should all be killed before they can manage to destroy it. Concentrate on your large battle. If Gloin or Glorfindel gets killed, hurriedly revive them at your Fortress. Other than that, the enemy should be defeated, even if you lost three quarters of your troops in the process. Once the last enemy in the third attack wave falls, you've won a long mission and saved the Elven port of Mithlond. Good job! :) 3.6 Celduin *********** You start out this mission in a city pretty much built on the water. King Dain and some of his troops will be fighting some orcs close to a small base, when the bridge is destroyed, courtesy of a well aimed flaming catapult projectile from the enemy, and you are forced to fight your through the city and meet up with your troops back at the base. You take control of King Dain and two battalions of Guardians. Start by moving forward, where you will meet a battalion of orc archers and a battalion of orc swordsmen. The orcs are pretty weak and should go down quick. Once the swordsmen are dead, the archers will flee deeper into the city. Give chase and you should come to an intersection where you find some Men of Dale and another battalion of Guardians fighting off some more orcs. Kill the orc archer battalion and hurry to help the Men of Dale archers, who are in need of it the most. The Guardians should be able to deal with the attackers themselves. To your right, another battle rages, this consisting of more Men of Dale and Guardians clashing with some orcs. While they are fighting, an Attack Troll will run past them and attack King Dain and company. Unlike the first game, melee units can actually deal some nice damage to trolls, if their weapons are upgraded, so use your Guardians and King Dain to take this troll down. Once you've defeated the Attack Troll, meet up with the Guardians and Men of Dale that were fighting to your right and kill the orc battalion that is attacking innocent civilians to your left. Then, continue down the path to your right, and then cut back to your left once you come to a clearing or square type thing, whatever you want to call it. Go forward and you should meet some Men of Dale trading fire with some orc archers, and firing at some orc swordsmen. There are some Corsairs there too, but they are concentrating on killing civilians, so don't worry about them until you've taken care of the rest of the foe in this area. Have King Dain's forces attack one of the orc archer battalions, while you have the Men of Dale take care of the other, along with the orc swordsmen. Once they are all dead, move your Guardians in front of your Men of Dale so you can protect it from them from the incoming Attack Troll. Have Dain and your Guardians bring the beast down, gather up your forces, joining the Men of Dale archers with them, and move forward down the path. Here you will find a whole bunch of Corsairs, orcs, Harad Archers, and two or three catapults attacking some Dwarven Phalanxes. Have your forces attack the Harad Archers and Corsairs from behind. Use the Bombadil power, if you have it, and the fog of war power. They will give your troops a boost and clear the area up. It also doesn't hurt to use Dain's Mighty Rage ability to rejuvenate and make a group of dwarves fight better and be healed. With all of these powers, the massive force should be defeated, and the Phalanxes saved. Join them with your current forces, use Heal if you need it, and continue straight, the same direction you were going in before you entered the battle. Now some Axe Throwers and Guardians are being attacked, a little ways down the path. They should kill their attackers by the time you get there, so join the survivers in with your troops and march into your base to reunite yourself with your kin. Clear the base of enemies and now you will need to orchestrate a counterattack. Use your battalions individually as well as King Dain to capture any inns surrounding your base. Also, capture the dock to the south of your base. Build some more Guardians, and upgrade them with Mithril Mail and Seige Hammers, the only two avaliable upgrades. In the middle of this process, you will be approached by a giant Mumakil. Send forth all your units to take this beast down. Some of your dwarves will get trampled, but the losses are not too bad. Bring your injured battalions back to be healed by your well, and make sure you've finished building all the Guardians you can, and that you've upgraded them. Now you can start your campaign across the shallows. The enemy's base is on the other side and you'll have to cross this already bloody water to have a chance at destroying it. Move across the shallows with your forces, and a little before reaching the middle of the shallows, you should meet a huge enemy force consisting of everything. Corsairs, orcs, Harad Archers, two Mumakils, and five or six catapults. It looks intimidating, but you have an army of your own and a hero at your side, so crash headfirst into these guys, keeping your Axe Throwers out of harm. The catapults should deal you plenty of damage, and it hurts mentally to see fiery balls of death land in the midst of your troops, but there is nothing you can do about those until you destroy the enemy forces guarding them. Have King Dain and a few battalions of Guardians deal with the Mumakils while the rest of your troops fight off the enemy infantry and archers. The orcs and Corsairs are relatively weak, and should go down fast. The Harad Archers are more of an annoyance then a real challenge. Once the Mumakil are down, have Dain and his Guardians rush up to each enemy catapult and dismantle them. It may take some dividing of your forces to take these catapults down, as they are spread throughout the shallows, but you will eventually get the job done. While you are going around and destroying the numerous enemy catapults, head back to your base and produce a bunch of new Guardian battalions. Make sure to upgrade them too. Have all of your forces meet up in the middle of the shallows, and then move your rejuvenated force forward, towards the enemy shore. As your forces reach dry land, you are met by an old foe. Another one of those fire-breathing worms with the pissy attitude is back, and it's eager to cook your dwarves medium rare. Gather up all your forces and surround it. Keep attacking with King Dain, who deals good damage to the beast, and your Guardians. It should only have time to toast one or two of your battalions before you destroy it. That's not the only obstacle standing between you and the enemy base. More enemies will come in a large wave to try and sweep you off the beach. With Dain in front, fight through the numerous Corsairs, orcs, and Harad Archers. Your forces should be enough to wipe out the enemy no problem. The only huge problem is an Attack Troll who joins the fight after a while. Have Dain and a few Guardians take care of him. Make sure to kill him before he can do that much damage to your forces. While you are fighting here, don't forget to head back to your base and produce some fresh units, in case you need reinforcements before attacking the enemy camp, and don't forget to upgrade them with Mithril Mail and Seige Hammers. OK, once you've cleared the enemy off the beach, think if you were facing the beach. Take a left as you go forward into the enemy tents, which you can't destroy, and you should find the enemy camp. Get your Evenstar powers ready, because you will need them. I recommed using Barrage, which you should target directly on top of the enemy Fortress. Barrage will destroy the catapult add-ons to the Fortress and deal a good amount of damage to the Fortress itself. Once your units have clashed with the foe, which consists of two Attack Trolls, two Nazgul on horseback, Rhun soldiers, and a bunch of Corsairs, you should use Tom Bombadil. Spawn him right in front of the enemy Fortress, and if he is not surrounded by enemies and being attacked, have him deal damage in increments to the Fortress. He will take down very small amounts of the building's health, but it is a start. Have King Dain and a few Guardian battalions focus on the Attack Trolls, and make sure you surround the Nazgul and have them attacked from all sides. They die very quickly if you do that, so they aren't as intimidating as they seem. The Attack Trolls will probably deal you a good deal of damage, since they are pretty tough, but as long as you keep King Dain in there hacking away at them, you're good. Make sure you use Heal if your dwarves are getting tired or are weakening. Once the enemy forces in your way have been crushed, attack the Fortress with your full force. Ignore the seige works buildings to either side of you. All you need to destroy is the Fortress. If you can't manage to get it down before it's arrows kill all your forces, move your reinforcements all the way from your base to the enemy's base and finish it off. Once it falls, you've saved Dale and completed the mission! Congratulations! :p 3.7 Erebor ********** OK, time to get to work. The enemy is assaulting Dale again, but this time with a much greater attack force. Well, they messed with the wrong guy here, and you'll prove that. You start with King Dain and a large army made up of Axe Throwers and Guardians. The first thing you should do is delete every mine in Erebor. They are only at 50% when it comes to prodcution rate, which is half of what they are capable of. As you continue to build Mine Shafts to get more resources, they will actually hurt your economy more than help it, so get rid of them. To start off, move your army to the lower left corner of the map. Send someone to the lower right corner to capture the signal fire there. Upgrade an archery range to level 2 and one Forge Work to level 3, so you can produce Men of Dale and upgrade all your units with the maximum amount of beef. When researching upgrades at the Seige Works, don't buy the Seige Hammers upgrade, which increases a melee units damage to enemy buildings. The enemy does not establish a base, so you won't need it. Make sure to buy all of your armor and weapon upgrades before you do anything else. Fortifications will be the main expense in this mission, but no matter how many walls or fortresses you have, the units that you upgrade will be doing the heavy fighting, and it is the outcome of that fighting that will decide whether you pass this mission or not. Once all the upgrades are purchased, and the battalions you have now are upgraded, it's time to build up your defenses. You should first strengthen your army. Create three phalanx battalions, three groups of Men of Dale, and three Dwarven catapults. The catapults are a first in this campaign, but they are useful, as you will find out later in the mission. Upgrade these battalions with all the avaliable improvements, and place them on the front lines in front of Dale. The Men of Dale archers offer range, which you don't have with Axe Throwers and the Phalanx are a good counter for Attack Trolls, which can be a royal pain in the ass at times. Don't forget the various Mumakil that the enemy will send at you. Your Men of Dale make quick work of them too, as long as you protect them. Fill up the rest of the extra Command Points as you see fit. I created another Men of Dale battalion and a Guardian battalion. Put King Dain and his army up there with your Phalanx and Men of Dale. Now it's time to start building our defensive structures. You don't even need to build walls in this mission, suprisingly enough. I built six fortresses and had them lined up in front of Dale in a row, leaving space in between to pack in my battalions. It's basically a death trap for the enemy. Granted, you will lose a fortress or two with each attack wave the foe sends at you, but with the various new mine shafts you should have built, the rapid influx of resources should allow you to rebuild the after each wave is wiped out. Also, the enemy will send attack waves at you while you are building up. These forces are much smaller than the forces you will see when the main attack waves come, but they shouldn't be a problem at all for your fully upgraded war machine. Also, make sure you build fortresses in front of the right and left entrances to Erebor, and post a fully upgraded phalanx battalion at each one of them. Make sure you build catapults on the Fortress building foundations on both of them. OK, with the minor attack waves repelled and your defenses ready, the first wave will sweep down upon you. Yeah, it's a bunch of orcs, both archers and swordsmen, along with rams. Get to the rams first, and take them down, because they will use those to try and destroy all of your Fortresses. You may lose a Fortress as I warned above in this attack, but just rebuild it. The first attack wave should really stand no chance if you have catapults on the foundations of some of your Fortresses and have King Dain and his men pushing them back. Those orcs can't go toe to toe with your upgraded Guardian battalions, especially with large stones from the Fortress catapults raining down on them. After a little fighting, the first attack wave should be dispatched with ease. After the first attacke wave is destroyed, the right entrance to Erebor is sneak attacked by a bunch of trolls. One phalanx battalion, which you should have already pulled over to the Fortress built there, should hold, along with the Fortress and its catapult additions. Also, make sure when you do build your Fortress, build it close enough to the edge of the map so that when the trolls attack and first enter the map, they will be too close to use their throwing attack, which would have your Fortress down quick. Keep upgrading all your Fortresses in front of Dale by upgrading wall armor and all that stuff. Also, build catapult additions on every one of the building foundations for every Fortress. This should make your defense almost impenetrable, combined with the Fortress arrow fire and your brave units in the gaps of the Fortresses. Also, add in a few hearths behind your Fortresses. The enemy will probably not destroy these, even if they do manage to attack them, as the Fortresses and your units will protect them. Also, replenish any losses to your troops, and make sure they are upgraded. Lastly, after the trolls are killed, demolish the Fortress on the side of the map where the trolls attacked, and pull the phalanxes in front of deal amongst the rest of your troops. Make sure you demolish the Fortress extension before you actually take down the Fortress, to get their refund as well as that of the Fortress. The enemy will not attack there again, so no need to defend it. The second attack wave is tougher than the first, and not only because of it's sheer size. You'll probably lose a few Fortresses, but the other Fortresses will be able to dish out damage while those are being destroyed. So, this attack wave, is much like the first in the damage it deals. You may lose more units and possibly one more Fortress than before, but you can easily replace the units and your lost Fortresses. Remember to protect your Men of Dale archers! The enemy will launch another sneak attack, this time at your left entrance. This one consists of tons of Corsairs. They should destroy the Phalanx battalion there, but the rest will die when they are trying to destroy your Fortress. After they are eliminated, destroy the Fortress there and pull any Phalanxes that may have survived to the front lines in Dale. Like the right entrance, the enemy will not attack here again. The final wave is much like the first two, except it's effectiveness should be non-existent. There is virtually no point you can have this final wave break through unless you failed to replenish your armies or didn't rebuild your destroyed Fortresses from the last wave. After the final wave is defeated, a sneak attack, this one a lot smaller than the previous two, will take place. Just build a Fortress in front of Erebor, and upgrade as much as you can before the sneak attack reaches it. After that, you've saved Dale once again, and came through in another successful mission! Mordor is looking nervous now. 3.8 Dol Guldur ************** Now it is time to strike the final blow, and end the Dark Lord's campaign in the East. Dol Guldur is one of Sauron's centers of power, and it must be destroyed if his influence in Middle Earth is to be ended forever. You start out with a combined Dwarven-Elven army consisting mostly of Elves. You have two Rivendell Lancer battalions, about three Elven Warrior battalions and two Axe Thrower battalions along with Elrond, King Dain, and three Elven builders. Start off by building a Fortress. Build it in the area you start out in. Don't go wandering far from this area with a Builder because most of the land around you is covered in Spider Nests, and you'll need to remove them with your army after you get done constructing your base. First, I built four Mallorn Trees, not too far from my Fortress as to be vulnerable to the Spider Nests, but enough to make them produce in the upper ninety percentile. After your Mallorn Trees are done, make an Elven Barracks, a Green Pasture, and a Eregion Forge, for unit producing and upgrading. Your first objective is to capture the two signal fires to the left and right sides of the map so they can signal help from the Dwarves and then the Elves. Leave your Rivendell Lancers at the base for defense and move the rest of your army to the right and keep on towards the signal fire. I met some battalions of orcs and the Spider Nests I told you about earlier. Destroy the Spider Nests and kill anything in your way. The enemy has a small camp around the signal fire, and some troops. I can recall a few battalions of orcs, an Attack Troll, which you should worry about before anything else, and two catapults. Take care of the troll and the catapults first, since they will deal you the most casualties, and then use 1/2 of your army to destroy the enemy defense towers and buildings, and the other 1/2 to take care of the orcs. Once the enemy is cleared out, your army should be beat up pretty badly, so group them together and use Heal. Capture the signal fire and a countdown for the Dwarven reinforcements to appear will commence. I think it is three minutes until they get there. Take your army back and build as many battalions of Lorien Warriors and Lorien Archers as you can before the countdown is over, because the arriving reinforcements will probably fill up the population cap, and you want as many units as you can get. The Dwarven reinforcements consist of some Guardians, Axe Throwers, and four catapults, which you want to protect because they are very useful when attacking Dol Guldur. You will also recieve two Dwarven builders. Construct a Fortress in the area that the reinforcements enter the map at, and work on clearing out the Spider Nests around you, because, unlike the construction of the Elven base, they will give you problems when choosing where to build your structures. I made a Hall of Warriors, a Forge Works, an Archery Range, and two or three Mine Shafts to increase resource output. Now it is time to capture the next signal fire. Combine your Elven and Dwarven armies and make sure to leave behind one or two battalions at both bases so you aren't completely helpless if your attack fails. All the Spider Nests should have been mopped up when the Dwarven army arrived, but if you missed one, take it out and continue to the signal fire. It's quite a long way to this one once you think about it, and you will probably encounter a few orc battalions on the way. With your combined, fully upgraded force, destroying the enemy camp and troops guarding the signal fire shouldn't be too hard. Just destroy the catapults first and then kill the trolls, probably all Drummer Trolls and then kill everything else. Capture the signal fire after the enemy is vanquished and a countdown for the Elven army's arrival will begin. If you lost enough forces to make room in the population cap, build some more Dwarven Phalanxes and upgrade them. Once the Elven reinforcements arrive, your unit cap should be through the roof, so forget about any unit producing for a while, at least until you are a little into the assualt on the enemy Fortress. The incoming Elven reinforcements come with lots of Mirkwood Archers, who are pretty good, and three heroes who are Glorfindel, Gloin, and Arwen. Combine them with your main army and you should be ready for a seige. But wait! The enemy is launching a counter attack. A countdown until their attack force arrives will begin, about seven or eight minutes. Prepare your base, and split your army into two seperate forces. Situate one of the forces where the Dwarven reinforcements came out from and another a little way away from the signal fire on your right. Put most of your heroes on the left side, because that is the greatest force you will deal with of the two you will face. They will have Mumakil and a Nazgul, along with a bunch of orcs. Once the countdown is over, two seperate forces will attack, and if you put your forces where I told you, you should meet them as soon as they come out. Make sure Arwen is with the force on the left. For the force on the left, use Arwen's Flood Power as soon as they come out in order to take down a good chunk of them. For the force on the right, use Elrond's giant tornado ability and have it wreak havoc there. Both fights should be over quick. The attack on your right flank may be a little difficult, but if you take the Mumakil down as quickly as you can, you should be fine. Use your powers also, if need be. Alright, once the counterattack is defeated, bring your battered forces back to the Elven base and start rebuilding your army. If you lost any catapults make sure you build those again, because they will be instrumental during the siege of Dol Guldur. Build a few battalions of Dwarven Phalanxes and a few of Mirkwood Archers if you can. Your resources should be very high at this point if you protected your two bases effectively, so go to your two Fortresses and upgrade them with everything. Build catapults on all the building foundations for your Dwarven Fortress and Battle Towers on all the building foundations for your Elven Fortress. At your Elven Fortress, you should have bought Encasing Vines and then the Eagle's Nest. Now you can build a Giant Eagle, which will be very useful for taking out catapults and swooping down on enemy troops. It can accompany your attack force into battle and be very effective for taking out enemy towers and catapults, which it destroys in two swoops. Now, once your forces are fully healed and rebuilt, start toward the enemy base. Stop at the foot of the bridge and send your catapults forward, ahead of the rest of your troops. You should have two enemy catapults stationed on wall hubs at the end of the bridge, flanking the entrance to inner Dul Guldur. With protection from the rest of your army, have your catapults destroy the enemy catapults watch towers built on the wall. The watch towers line the walls all the way around the base, but you don't have to worry about the ones way far down the wall yet. Just concentrate on the ones that are in range to fire at you. Once all of the enemy catapults in your range are destroyed, continue forward and up the stairs onto a platform. Now you should split your forces in half, and go down each set of stairs to your right and left. Their will be clusters of buildings, and troops in both areas that you moved your forces into. Deal with the wall hub catapults and enemy towers with your two catapults, which you should have split up evenly amongst your two forces, and concentrate on the enemy troops and structures. Once the two areas you are in are completely empty of any free standing structures, including gates, catapults, enemy towers built into the walls and normal buildings like orc pits and troll cages, meet back up in the middle of the base. Now, you must assault the middle of the base and destroy the two enemy Fortresses there to win. Send your forces down the left side of the stairs and curve around, past the area where you destroyed all the enemy structures, and up the path. There you will come to two clusters of buildings. If your forces weren't too messed up from the seperate attacks, this shouldn't be a problem, but if you need some help to keep from getting defeated, use your powers from your Evenstar or use some of the hero abilities you have. Once you've taken down all the enemies and enemy buildings in this area, destroy the Fortress built across from them, and continue to the gate leading to the last Fortress. Destroy the gate, and use Barrage on the enemy Fortress inside before attacking. There should be some trolls and some orcs in there, so kill them quickly. Have your archers deal with the Nazgul. Once all the enemy units are killed, destroy the buildings and the large enemy castle standing there. Now you've just about crippled the foe. They don't have any unit producing buildings left, so just take care of any wall catapults and built in battle towers to win. Remember, you have to destroy everything built on the walls surrounding Dol Guldur and inside of Dol Guldur to win. Once you do, you have officially won the good campaign. Now you can jump up in the air and hug yourself intimately because you have just saved the Elven and Dwarven races, and beaten the game! <><><><><><><><><><><><><><> 4 CLOSING 4 <><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Well before I call it a guide I'd like to give thanks to EA games for making such a wonderful game for us to play. I'd also like to thank everyone who read this and my parents for giving me such a nice computer. Thanks for reading and look out for my future guides.