Mission 5 - The Day of Ruin

The Day of Ruin

Story mission
Mission	5
Chapter	1: The Age of Iron
Played	5th
Map	Forest, Medium
In the demo	No
Estimated time	45-70 min (estimate)
Starting resources	Standard
Teaches	Defending under heavy pressure, falling back and regrouping
Objectives
Story spoilers: Mission 5 Hold the first assault. Build four spans of wooden wall and a gate. Hold the hall through the push. Fall back to the hall. Watch the stone. Destroy the Corvane Town Hall.
Campaign
Previous	Mission 4 - What the Scholars Carried
Next	Mission 6 - What the Winter Left

The Day of Ruin is the fifth mission of the Story campaign and the last of Chapter 1, The Age of Iron. Corvane returns with numbers Ashmere cannot match, and you must hold the town you have built over the first four missions.

Overview

• This is the first mission in which Corvane plays at Normal difficulty. Expect to lose outlying buildings and soldiers.
• You start with the town and a few villagers; soldiers join you during the mission.
• More of the game opens up: stone walls and gates, towers, siege engines, cavalry, ships and the Stronghold can be built. Mage buildings and units are still hidden.

Story

Story spoilers: Mission 5

This box is closed until you open it.

Corvane returns to the valley, this time in numbers Ashmere cannot match. The Captain holds the first assault and closes the road with a wall. Then Corvane throws everything it has at the town. Outlying buildings fall, and Hale orders everyone back to the hall to make a last stand.

Then the stone in the field lights. The camera leaves the battle to show the Pillar waking, its carvings lit. Lightning tears into Corvane's soldiers around the stone, and their army breaks. Hale sends the Captain's knights after them, to the camp that sent them. When Corvane's hall falls, the Pillar is spent and sinks into the ground, leaving only ash and embers behind.

The scoreboard calls it a victory. Hale knows better:

"We did not win that. Something else did." (Commander Hale)

Hale's report to the king says that Ashmere held, and leaves out what saved it. In the world's history, this is the day magic is born: see Ardenmoor.

Objectives

Story spoilers: Mission 5

This box is closed until you open it.

1. Hold the first assault. Six Swordsmen join you. About 40 seconds in, four Corvane Spearmen march on the hall. Keep soldiers between them and the hall. The step completes a little over two minutes after it began.
2. Walls. A checkpoint is saved. Open the Defensive tab and build four spans of wooden wall on the hall approach, where the road comes in, and a wooden gate in them.
3. The push. A checkpoint is saved. Eight Corvane Swordsmen attack at once, and six Longbowmen follow 30 seconds later. Hold the hall: Corvane may take your outlying buildings and units, but not the Town Hall. Withdraw if you need to. The step lasts two and a half minutes.
4. Fall back. Three more Swordsmen join you near the hall. Bring at least three soldiers to the hall and hold there.
5. Watch the stone. Keep your soldiers behind the walls and away from the Pillar. It wakes, ten Corvane Swordsmen are caught beside it, and a storm of lightning strikes around the stone for about 20 seconds. The storm hits every side within its reach.
6. Break the enemy. Six Knights join you and ride for the Corvane camp. Destroy the Corvane Town Hall. The mission is won when it falls.

Characters met

Story spoilers: Mission 5

This box is closed until you open it.

• Commander Aldric Hale.
• Corvane, with its whole army.
• The king, mentioned only: Hale reports the battle to him.

Notes

Story spoilers: Mission 5

This box is closed until you open it.

• The Pillar is scripted: it wakes on its own, and you never charge or control it. See Pillars.
• Corvane plays at Normal difficulty here, but its standing army is capped, its attack waves are limited, and it never targets your Town Hall.
• In the story, the town under attack is the one built and defended across Missions 1 to 4. That is why the campaign spends four missions building it up first.

Campaign

← Previous: Mission 4 - What the Scholars Carried · Next: Mission 6 - What the Winter Left →