Thoughts on Lords of the West Campaigns (spoilers, obviously)

So I just finished the campaigns on Hard, and wow. These are probably the 3 best campaigns in AoE2 at the moment.

Super high quality missions, fun and enjoyable, and most of them very unique. The only thing that slightly annoyed me was the overly aggressive narrator, but that's a choice.

Edward Longshanks

Easy campaign, one sword rating, and really matched that rating (unlike, say, Tariq). Lots of standard build & destroy missions. Missions 1 and 3 have a small twist on that formula which is pretty fun, but overall pretty standard fare. Never really felt pressured except for moments in Mission 2. Mass Longbowmen just slaughter everything, and the Celts never did built enough Siege Onagers.

A Man of God: By far the hardest mission. You're hit with increasing waves of stronger enemy attacks, while you can't collect many resource and are stuck in Castle Age (or are you? I didn't manage to unlock Imperial, but I couldn't finish all the side quests). Small exploit where you can actually build a dock outside of the city and be relatively safe from raids. Going out to hunt down the small towns and the blacksmiths/supply depots really felt like foraging during the lulls in a siege.

The Grand Dukes of the West

A step up in difficulty compared to Edward Longshanks. Each mission has a stronger set of side-quests, but nothing too difficult. This really feels like what the Franks campaign could have been - large masses of cavalry pushing through enemy forces.

The Cleansing of Paris: a better version of The Siege of Paris, very interesting side quests, but a bit too easy since you can avoid the centre island full of Siege Onagers

The Hook and Cod Wars: the only mission that felt more challenging - being stuck on small islands while being pressured by two enemies was a bit hard, but Cannon Galleons and going on water can easily wipe out Red, and once you have the first Green base down you're pretty much set.

The Hautesvilles

The finale to this expansion. I really wish that this campaign was six missions, as there were so many interesting parts to it. A bit harder, but since there's no infinite resource spam anymore it has nothing on Le Loi or Bayinnaung. Seeing how tanky the Serjants are really help reinforce the Sicilians as an infantry-archer civ, unlike the similar-region Franks and Burgundians.

Guiscard Arrives: Pretty good initial scenario, the betrayal of your overlord definitely hurts, and Cyan step up their attacks enough so that pushing on the castle while defending yourself is a bit tricky. The tight population space means that engagements have to be more carefully thought out.

Roger in Sicily: Unfortunately easily cheesed with your starting army, but if not a challenging build-up and defend mission.

Bohemond and the Emperor: The most annoying mission of this xpac. I ended up using two groups of cavaliers just to drag the army back and forth so I could snipe buildings. There's no build up, no early pressure, just a long and tiresome grind through three large regions.

Bohemond in the East: Really reminds me of Philly's The Last Romans. I think having one more attack wave would've helped, but a fun scenario where you really do feel stretched out to your limits across a massive city. If you want to cheese it, just sacrifice the outer rings of buildings and build a few castles close together.

Wonder of the World: What a mission, probably my favourite mission in AoE2. Lots of potential choices in this mission, super open ended. You have a good amount of resources and a ton of flexibility to choose what to do. Excellent replay value. Having everyone collapse on you as you scramble to finish a wonder is a bit more fun than hunting down the remnants of Yellow and Cyan.

All in all, kudos to the devs for such a fun experience. And for only $10, an incredible steal for quite a few hours of fun.