Edward Longshanks through my eyes.

Let's go somewhere where you can't be hurt by Lithuanians MLG no scope Knights or deleted walls. Let's go to the campaigns!

I am a single player kind of guy because I haven't found the energy to commit to ladder, but I am decent at campaigns (got all but two gold medals in campaigns from before this DLC). I started with Eddy Longshanks. This campaign was needed because let's be honest Azincourt is a meh dungeon crawler that is easy as hell and Cyprus is just one mission. (Now give us proper campaigns for Turks, Persians, Slavs, Lithuanians and Magyars, you might as well release some Caucasian and Central Eastern civs).

I am playing on Hard.

Without further ado.

1.Vain Ambition

Eddy got captured, but gets out and seeks revenge on the barons, while he is still a prince.

First you gotta escape Hereford. You have three options - going through a tower to the north (requires you to fight 2 Pikes and 1 Longsword), fight your way out by going straight east (3 pikes and 3 Longswords) or going to the Dock to catch a Transport where you meet 2 crossbows.

I took the northern route which is the easiest one because while the troops at the dock are the weakest you don't have to try to avoid Gloucester ships (2 War Galleys and a Demo).

You go further to the inn controlled by Worcester and turn your troops to light cavalry and mounted heroes.

On your way to Worcester you can meet several Baronial patrols which are either 4 light cav or 2 light cav and 1 knight. If you take the most direct road you meet two of these which your heroes should be more than fit to handle. Beware though, they don't regenerate hit points until they reach Worcester!

Upon reaching the town you get buildings and troops and you can start booming. You can find a relic on your road to town and another on to the north of your base to the northwest of Kenilworth. There is an achievement for killing Simon the Younger before he attacks himself. This one is fairly easy. If you put some Vills on stone you can build a Castle next to the bridge to his camp which is outside of Kenilworth's Castle, build up some more units (ideally crossbows) bait his melee army on the bridge and shred them with arrows. Simon himself is not oinn an aggressive stance, so you gotta catch him after your wreck his army.

You won't get the achievement immediately, you have to wait for the trigger when he's supposed to attack. It will also give you some Imp Blacksmith upgrades which is dope since you are stuck in Castle Age. You will be told that you will run out of resources in Worcester and you should expand quickly, but there isn't a great need to rush. The map is fairly rich in terms of resources and that includes plenty of Sheep.

Kenilworth is your next logical choice. Rams should take care of the Castle and your archers will wreck anything they train. Afterwards you can secure the crossings to the Baronial base with two Castles which is more than enough. Those fools don't bring Siege during their glorious charge.

Now you can just slowly secure resources (plenty of Stone to do that) until you eventually push two more enemies. I chose Welsh and Gloucester. Archers supported by Cavalry to kill Siege and Skirms is the most logical composition.

2.Man of God

Eddy has a bad rep so he goes to fix it the old way. Crusading.

You are holed up in Acre (Saladin memories) and you have to hold up for an hour. This mission was awesome. You have fairly restricted economy with land access to only wood and stone, while unable to train additional Vills. Fishing Ships and Trade Cogs are therefore crucial to get food and gold. You are still stuck in Castle Age and you can't build Rams, yet you are heavily motivated to push, because Mamluk Supply Depots give resources and Blacksmiths give Imp upgrades not to mention you slow down their attacks.

You got two allies from the get go. Tripoli which you are tasked to protect and Crusaders who help you do whatever you ask them to do through taunts. They are quite capable which is nice because I didn't have to bother with defense of Tripoli whatsoever. I just told Crusaders to defend it and their joined forces managed to hold against Aleppo.

I held off the initial attack by shooting down units with Longbows and then killing Siege with melee. You got some Towers and decent Walls, so no need to waste units. After setting up eco and building towers to hold off ships from southern Mamluk base I started pushing against the camps with a composition of Lonbgows and Knights supported by few Monks. There might be an incentive for your Fishings ships to build traps so they are safe within the area of your Docks. Trade Cogs shouldn't be in danger.

You gotta be careful with your troops when you are outside. Sometimes you will face a ball of Mamelukes and CAs that will just beat you. You are still safe behind your walls, so if you keep up the production, eco and raids you should be able to rebuild. At some point Mongol Ilkhanate will ask you for an envoy. You can just send Eddy who is fast and bulky enough to their base. He doesn't have to survive once he reaches it. They will ask you to send them 500g which is definitely worth it because they will flood Aleppo with Rams, Mangudais, Light Cav and Lancers. They won' destroy it, but you won't have to worry about Tripoli from that point whatsover. Close to the end of the mission there will be an attack with lot of Siege coming your way. Fortunately there is a Crusader castle in the way, so you should be able to intercept Trebs and Rams with your Knights.

I destroyed all but one camp and 2 buildings in Nazareth.

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3.Of Castles and Kings

Time to conquer.

In the initial stage you have to protect AI controlled builders when they build Castles. There is three of them. It's fairly easy. Just protect them from west and north and they shouldn't be harmed. After this you get to do some base building. This map is again quite resource-rich, so you can just boom. You can go Imp, so you can finally build Trebs and make your Longbows Elite. Supporting cast should be formed by Cavaliers to kill the occasional Siege, but Halbs can do as well.

I killed Dafydd, but I ended up winning by beating the Welsh Army, because Llewelyn is holed up behind a wall of trees in a fortified Castle which has the best access through water while you lack the access to... Cannon Galeons. You already have a solid defense even before you start to building up your base, so just boom, make some late Imp army and destroy the Welsh. Base by base. You are also supported by Marcher Lords, so you have access to trade and you have a relatively decent ally that helps you defend the castles. Welsh Army has two Monasteries with a Relic in each of them. They are fairly unprotected, so it's good idea to grab them. One is along the coast line just behind the southwest green base, the other is in the northern corner of the map next to Dafydd.

Dafydd isn't hard to destroy, but he's annoying because he builds Trebs as well. Neither of the princes is aggressive, so no need to actually bother with them. Llywelyn requires switch to Navy or cutting through the treeline and I couldn't be bothered with that. Once you reach the treeline you are in Welsh Army's economic underbelly, you can just win from there.

4.Toom Tabard.

Time to hurt Scots and add some salt into the wound.

No need to rush Berwick. Take your time. Boom, but build a Castle to the ford that is north of your base. There will be an Infantry push from the garrison at some point. Make a Castle next to the bridge to the North where your Outpost is. It will get repaired. The entire Southwestern part of the map is yours to take so you don't have to worry about resources. Most of your problems can be once again solved by Elite Longbows and if they are not... use Cavaliers or Trebs. Destroy Berwick. You can then turn your attention to the Scottish Army, but before that... pay visit to Scone so you get the achievement. Their troops are meager. 20 Longbows and 1 Treb is more than enough. Then you can finish off blue.

5.Hammer of Scots

The last mission before Eddy dies is killing *sniff* William Wallace and kicking more Scots.

Like in first or third mission there is a prelude. Once again you protect Vills from some attacks. This time it's Stirling garrison. Your starting army is more than fit to do it with the right unit management. Eventually you will told to upgrade Warwolf in a Castle you own in the east. Upon finishing the upgrade you get Warwolf - treb hero unit. You will use it to smash down Stirling gates, while disassembling the garrison piece by piece ( You can actually kill a lot of units with Longbows by not destroying the gates. They are locked.) Once you do that, you get the control of English Army bases and the proper mission starts. There is an achievement that tells you to kill Wallace before you get inevitably betrayed by Robert Bruce. Boom, build up some Longbows, drop a Castle just short of Wallace's area, bait Wallace's army into it, shoot towers with Warwolf and then kill Wallace which gets rid of his army as well giving you full control of the southern portion of the map.

You can them boom, Castle the Northern base that is across the river and the bridge across the river to the east of your western base, boom some more, build up your standard post-Imp Briton army and... win.

GG.