DaC V5 - Anduin Vale 1: Beornings Surrounded 

I like it as it adds depth to the story of the faction, as you mentioned, but as a gameplay mechanic it is annoying due to replenishment. I would love it if the other barracks choices were like a waystation and could replenish all the other units but not train them. That would keep the feel and practicality of having to deploy certain barracks in certain areas but not punish the player for having a variety of troops.

Yeah, it doesn't seem to always work out but for some reason it seems to happen a lot more frequently than you would think. Maybe it is to do with number of enemies, certainly if you were the only enemy they would throw larger armies (I think).

Thanks. In lieu of not having faction overview videos I always try to do a quasi overview at the beginning of each of the campaigns.

Ich grüße auch aus Deutschland.

Thank you and G'day from Australia!

Thanks, I am in the think tank for this one.

That can be either bad or good placement depending on how you play. Anduin Vale is certainly not for those who love easy challenge or turtling around. (And definitely not recommended for beginners).

You could turtle, that would probably just make it harder.@@Cybernaut76

It's going to be fun. I'm looking forward to it.

Yeah, I'd definitely want some protection, the old died to a stray arrow doesn't sound great on the tombstone.

Have some honey! It's on the house.

Unbreakable is a strong word.

Thanks, I think. I guess I'll have to retrain 30 years of talking.

@epmtotalwar Sorry brother, no offence. Your videos are great. I just thought it would be good to let you know in case that nobody told you so far, you didn't do it that much at the Enedweith videos... Anyway, keep up the good work. We want more content... somehow, in every campaign, you manage to suprise me with your results... Your decisions don't look that promising at the beginning, yet in every campiagn after few turns I am so surprised with the outcome... You have the magic touch in DaC... 😂

Cav is always good and probably the better choice in most cases. I don't think the archery range is that important, the vale archers are decent enough, 3 missile attack on 177 models and you can get cav archers/cav javs from stables. So Infantry and cav focus I think is the go.

@@epmtotalwar In any case, you should still recruit a small number of other units too than cavalry just to make sure your army is balanced and so that you could have combined arms (In Total War games, I somewhat believe in Alexander The Greats doctrine). Archers are good in the sense they can attack even those orcs that are skulking behind palisades and stone walls with a still unbroken enemy gate blocking your entrance (if they do that, they should be formed into long, thin rows). Orcs are not skilled enough craftsmen to make similar shields than Roman legions and not smart/disciplined/trained enough warriors to form into Testudo so they are rather helpless against hostile archers. Still though, you could be correct if archery is not the strong suit of Anduin Valesmen but orcs are usually quite pitiful pushovers even if the good factions troops were not elite.

What? Is that a change in version 5? Normally, attempting to move units into an allies fort with military access will trigger war.

DONT KNOW. I just watch a lot @@epmtotalwar

@@patttrick I'll have to check

My plan is, remove Goblins as a problem, take out Snow Orcs and then go back and trudge into the garbage settlements of Mirkwood. The only snag in the plan is if Angmar declares war I'll have another enemy but that should be manageable to hold them at the mountains.

@@epmtotalwar It is exactly Angmar which also worries me a bit. As soon as Gundabad is done for, it would likely be well advised to build a few watchtowers and at least one occupied castle near the borders and in critical passes close to Angmar so that you can hold Angmar in check until possibly needed reinforcements arrive to the site. I remember there is one relatively wide pass in the north that Angmar could use to march its forces to the Gundabad mountain should Angmar take a disliking to its new owner or want to support it while it still exist as an independent, evil faction. Goblins should be a pushover in the future episodes. Once you are close to eliminating a faction, watch out for suddenly appearing full stacks (doomstacks) from Goblins and Gundabad. (Those stacks are exactly why blitzkrieg with a small army and little preparation is not recommended). I think worst of all will be a potential doomstack from Dol Guldor.

I know about the spawn stacks mate, I play the game a fair bit. The settlement to the north is Litash, once that is taken it is a one settlement front. Goblins probably wont even be in my sights for a while since the high elves, ND and Dwarves and Lorien stand between me and them. @@Cybernaut76

@@epmtotalwar Litash sounds quite familiar but I always suck at remembering names by myself. Sounds good you lost contact to Goblins. They hardly have anything worthwhile to offer anymore now that you have taken Goblin Town. Some people say it is important to hold the passes of Misty Mountains to maintain trade routes with friendly factions in Eriador side.

They charge the archers in in a siege. I don't really understand what you mean. If they had 5 archer units there doing arcing shots the general would still be fine, he'd tank the shots and replenish.

@@epmtotalwar I meant archers in the gallery. If enemy had more archers, standing in this gallery would be just an execution waiting to happen because there's no cover there.

@mszalans4817 They only fire while the ram is hitting the gate and then charge in and due to how they position they wouldn't all be in range. I think it would still be fine.

I'm pretty sure you can transfer retinue, not traits. I think it is the same as transferring retinue from general to general but I'm not 100% sure.

Well most units can do well against goblins. As soon as they come up against anything heavily armoured they will melt, they don't have staying power or punching power to make a difference. Charge bonus on infantry to just not as effective as cav.

@epmdota fair points. I've found them to be pretty great for a cheap unit, thrown them up against uruks and castellans and though they lose, they also take out a fair few.