A General Guide and Series of Tactics to help you beat the siege of Abbelore .
Includes Multiple Sections with images and my own Strategies.

Sun Tzu Said:
"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."

This is a quick guide made to assist with the sieging of Abbelore, principally using the normal in game units. It is not exhaustive, nor a precise set of instructions, but rather a generalised set of strategic moves to better help you to conquer Ferdinand and his absurdly thick defences.

I am doing this, mostly, because it took me way too long to beat Abbelore the first time, and had trouble finding a guide myself. To this end, the following guide is laid out in chapters which are roughly presented and ordered in stages. However, each section may be read on its own.

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Sun Tzu Said:
"Earth comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death."

Abbelore is different from most other missions in three ways:

1. All major positions of the enemy are heavily defended with walls, towers, and gates, as well as barracks or other enemy unit producing structures.
   
2. The Enemy, apart from the large waves of assaulting troops which arrive at predetermined times, will not attack you unless you approach them. There are no smaller patrols or trickles of troops to worry about.
   
3. There are no basic resources, such as wood, stone, or metal, which we can scavenge or raid for, but instead each enemy encampment has a considerable amount of gold which can, and should, be collected.

With this knowledge, we should now observe the overall layout of the map, though it's precise details will vary.

Your base is in the top right of the map while the enemy's main stronghold of Abbelore runs the length of the bottom of the map. However, opposite you base, in the bottom left, is the castle of Ferdinand, which you will need to destroy to gain victory.

Abbelore can be divided into 4 areas, which are listed below and shown roughly in the accompanying map.

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The Eastern area of Abbelore is the least defended, and will be a likely staging point for your initial strike. It's relatively lower defences both externally and internally mean that a sufficiently large force can breach it quickly and take to destroying the township and civilian buildings within. This process, while taking a short while provides an abundance of Magic Crystals for later use during the main siege as well as during repelling waves.

The Northern Gate, like the Eastern District, is part of the outer area of Abbelore. As it is closer to the Castle, you may think it ideal to attack. In my opinion, this is something of a red herring. The gate is too far from your base to quickly dispatch troops unless you build barracks/engineers/stables nearer to the site. This takes time, resources, and places vital structures near to the Western edge of the map where enemy waves typically spawn.

Additionally, it has stronger defences, and being nearer to the inner wall that bounds the Main Garrison means you will often be taking fire from additional towers, unless you take the time to devastate the outer wall.

The main draw for this as your staging point for attacking the Castle is it's proximity. With enough power you can establish an effective siege battery or short distance for your troops to travel. If you are trying to beat the level without machines, this may be less of a deal breaker for you. As for me, I succeeded most frequently attacking from the Eastern District after pillaging it.

The Main Garrison is a square area bounded by heavy tower emplacements and moats. The moats mean you have two main means of egress, the Gates which line the North and Eastern walls. Beside each of these walls are collections of Big Towers in 4 unit configurations. These towers have both archers and siege equipment. Additionally, there are a number of additional barracks and stables which routinely generate advanced troops which will need to be dealt with.

It can be tempting to use the Meteor spell to destroy some of the towers, but be-warned, destroying even one emplacement takes more than 3 meteors to fully destroy. It is better to soften the gate with a single meteor and then destroy it before wiping out the inner defences with heavy troops.

The final hurdle is the Inner Bailey and the Castle. The Castle is your main target, but getting tunnel vision will mean a lot of time and wasted troops. Like with the Main Garrison, the Inner Most area of Abbelore is guarded by multiple massive collections of towers filled with archers and siege machines, including trebuchets. A surrounding moat means your access points are again limited. Forget any assault with normal troops, they will smashed to pieces before they even get close.

Additionally, the Castle generates an absurd amount of royal units which will slaughter all but the most durable strike forces.


Interspersed between you and Abbelore are a number of small, but densely defended outposts. Each of these outposts has towers and gates protecting an inner bailey with a unit producing barracks as well as a number of tents and piles of gold.

The outposts closest to you base have the most basic defences, such as 9 Unit Standard towers with archers. The further outposts have increasingly more powerful defences, such as 25 Units Big Towers and siege weapons.

Since these outposts do not send troops out to attack you, as they might in other missions, you may think it best not to waste time and resources on them, but destroying them will become an economic necessity. This is not just for their gold, but also for valuable magic crystals acquired by destroying buildings and for safe access to stone and metal deposits.

Sun Tzu Said:
"Thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays."

As soon as the mission begins, pause. Note that you will have a number of Spearman, Foot-knights, and Crossbowman available to you. These forces will be used in a moment, but we must first create a basic initial setup for your base. To do this build the following in this order:

Primary Buildings:
1. At least 2 Builder's Houses.
   You will also want to expand this to 4 as soon as possible. Place them along one edge of your townhall.
   
   
2. 3-4 Lumbermill.
   Place these at any location with a denseness of forest. I suggest to the East, as you are in the top right of the map, and no enemies will be baited to attack them from that direction.
   
   
3. 1-3 Houses.
   Growing your population is critical for exponential growth which will in-turn be necessary to fuel both your strike forces and defensive batteries.
   
   
   Secondary Buildings:
4. 1 Stone Mine.
   Ideally you should have at least 1 Stone deposit visible from your townhall when you first load the mission. You may wish to reload the mission until this is the case. On Day 1 you may or may not have enough villagers to build a mine. If this is the case, do not worry, as long as you work quickly on Day 2 to build mines with added population from your new houses.
   
   
5. Fishing Spots or Berry Pickers.
   Depending on what you built Primarily you may need additional pop to build stone mines. However, idle population is in-efficient. Dying to starvation is many times more inefficient. To the north is a river/body of water with many fishing spots. You have enough initial food that you do not need food sources on Day 1, but they are cheap and the more you build now the less you will need later.
   
   If you buy a Fisherman you'll want to also build a food store. You'll be building them anyway, so it is mostly a question of what resources you have after you initial build choices.
   
   If you buy Berry Pickers they cost you only population and can be placed near you townhall. This makes them great initially, but they may need to be removed later.
   
   
   Tertiary Buildings:
6. Storage.
   If you have read the above and built what has been suggested above, you may not have the resources to build any more. That's fine, as you get more wood over the course of the first day build storage as you go. If you have a Stone Mine, prioritize adding storage near it. Afterwards add storage near your Lumbermills. Don't skimp, Storage I is cheap and you'll need the space in order to have enough to grow to Townhall III later.
   
   
7. Observation Towers.
   You might think that knowing roughly where the enemy is would be enough but you would be wrong. Obersvation towers will let you quickly see where vital resource spots are, as well as where the enemy outposts are in relation to them. We want to quickly find Stone and Metal Deposits initially, so try to place the towers near rocky outcroppings near the outer bounds of your base.
   
   Your starting troops will also act as scouts, so they can look for Arcane Cracks and other obstacles. If you can, start with 2 towers, they cost only 26 wood in total, and place them South and West.

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My Base at Day 3

Sun Tsu Said:
"Hence a wise general makes a point of foraging on the enemy. One cartload of the enemy's provisions is equivalent to twenty of one's own, and likewise a single picul of his provender is equivalent to twenty from one's own store."

We don't have wood, stone, metal, or food to pillage this time round. We still need to raid the enemy, however. We need the gold in their strongholds as well as to set up additional mining and forestry in the areas nearby.

To do this, use only your melee troops. Bringing your crossbowman is temping, and if you are confident in your ability to micromanage them you may want to, however they are precious resources which can easily die to the heavier than normal defences of the outposts. We want to use these crossbowman to help us with the first wave, so it is best to keep them in reserve. Instead, use them to scout nearer to your Townhall.

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Examples of Outposts

While doing this take all your Spearman and Foot-knights and take them either South or West until you find an outpost. I think, ideally, a Southern push can be very good as it gets you closer to the Eastern District of Abbelore, which I believe is ideal for the actual siege as the first strike point.

Moving West can be good as well, as it has a good chance for finding resources and more often than not one of the Arcane Cracks is in this direction. This will be vital for quickly gaining magic crystals later.

Our goal at this stage is to advance to Townhall Tier III as quickly as possible while raiding the outer encampments.
You should be aiming for a timeline where you have Townhall III by between Day 11-14.

During this time you should be expanding your resource development, building more houses, more stone mines, and enough food sources to maintain the population. We don't want to over-invest in Food before Townhall II. Instead once you get to T2 after a few days, focus on farms and upgrading your lumbermills. In the first week you should have 6-9 lumbermills with enough storage for you not have to worry about filling up before needing to upgrade to the next Townhall.

Remember Townhall III requires [600 Wood][450 Stone][100 Metal][35 Gold]

Additionally DO NOT spend resources on troop buildings before at least T2, and only build towers once you know where the enemy is coming from. I suggest a single big tower in this position. They will only ever come from the far North/Mid West Edge and the South Eastern Edge.

As for Troop Choices, eventually, we will want as many Mounted Knights as possible, so starting with some stables can be an early boon. Regular Horseman are also great to supplement your existing forces, scout, and take care of any moment-to-moment needs for rapid deployment.

Sun Tsu Said:
"In the operations of war, where there are in the field a thousand swift chariots, as many heavy chariots, and a hundred thousand mail-clad soldiers, with provisions enough to carry them a thousand li, the expenditure at home and at the front, including entertainment of guests, small items such as glue and paint, and sums spent on chariots and armor, will reach the total of a thousand ounces of silver per day. Such is the cost of raising an army of 100,000 men."

Most of this is self explanatory and/or covered by the above section. If you have reached part of the campaign you probably have a good idea of what and how to build. The following are merely the suggestions for building a necessarily strong economy needed to destroy your enemy.

Raiding the enemy strongholds will quickly get you the 35 Gold needed to upgrade from Townhall II to Townhall III. After just 2 Strongholds you should have more than enough. If you do not have enough other resources, you can use the spare gold to buy them to expedite the process. Just know that ultimately you will need this gold to fund your legion of Knights (and trebuchets if you are not going for the no-warmachines achievement). Without Metal and Stone to collect from the enemy, getting 2-3 Metal Mines and 4-5 Stone Mines will serve you well in the mid stages.

I also suggest setting the trade window to re-open upon arrival.

Your focus as you are progressing up the research tree should be prioritizing worker speed and building speed. At Townhall II, make sure to get Tier II Barracks so we can make and upgrade crossbowman, as they will be the backbone of our static defences. When we finally reach Townhall III, you'll want a University and Stables III as soon as possible. Once we have the university prioritize Alchemical Transgressor and Infinite Stone and Metal.

Forestry will be an economic necessity. You need it to fuel stone, metal, and infinite sources, as well as it being important for getting extra gold. As well, the Transgressor will need Stone and Metal to make you crystals. At Townhall III, you gain access to the Forestry building. Near to some of you existing Lumbermills (which you should be upgrading if they aren't already) place a close clutch of Forestry buildings.

Ideally you should have 3-4 Lumbermills next to 4-6 Forestry Buildings. Finally, place a workshop near this bundle buildings to maximize your effiency. Bonus points if it also catches some of your farms or resource gather spots.

AS SOON AS YOU CAN, build a transgressor and a workshop next to it. This will net you 5-6 Crystals a day, which is at least 1 Meteor every 2 days, or 2 Astral Rays.
DO NOT SQUANDER THESE CRYSTALS. If a wave can be repelled without using them, do not use them. If a tower can be taken without using them, do not use them. We want to keep as many as we can to preserve our strike force with heal (which we should upgrade alongside Horse Knight training speed) and smash the heavy emplacements near the Castle and Inner Bailey.

Sun Tsu Said:
"Knowing the place and the time of the coming battle, we may concentrate from the greatest distances in order to fight."

1. Never Enough Daka
   Regardless of whether you are using siege weapons, Crossbowman are indispensable for dealing with enemies so long as they are in towers and in sufficient numbers. Also, while I make a big deal of never using Magic unnecessarily, an astral ray or a well timed singular meteor can turn the tide of a wave, so don't be so totally petrified of using them occasionally. Hell, in wave 1 you can mostly deal with the wave with a single Astral Ray, if you get a clear view of the whole enemy force.
   
   
2. Extra Thick Walls and 'The Dragons Teeth'
   Once you know where the enemy is coming from, you know where to build your defenses. Enemies from the West tend to have a more variable deployment zone, so be prepared to reload if you misjudge the initial placement of your towers. When you are sure of the location, you want to build towers followed by accessory walls which will act as an additional bulwark.
   
   One layer can often be sufficient if you have enough fire power but we can improve the situation either by making our walls 'Extra ThiccTM' or by adding what I refer to as 'Dragon's Teeth'.
   
   Extra Thick walls is just adding layers, but this is time and resource heavy, as well, misplaced walls or overly zealous builders can sometimes box themselves in, meaning that much more time deconstructing and re-constructing wall elements. An alternative which is both efficient and deadly is 'Dragons Teeth'.
   
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   Rather than a simple extra layer after the first bulwark wall, we add intermittent single walls projecting out. We pair this with the Boiling Oil research so that any enemy that gets close gets splashed. Not only do these 'teeth' add more wall, they break up and defocus the enemies assault, mess with their close in pathing, and pour way more oil on them than normal walls. I haven't checked to see whether the damage output is tripled or not, but it certainly seems to me like the waves got far more manageable this way.
   
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3. Rapid Response Horse Unit
   It is always a good idea to have a few Horse Riders available in the later waves. Mounted knights are great for supplementing gaps or weak parts of your choke points that you haven't had the time or resources to fully blockade and garrison. Additionally, a mere handful of Mounted Knights can quickly rush an enemy backline and deal with the huge siege weapons the enemy employs.
   
   Since my strategy relies heavily on Mounted Knights, I often had a force of them building at any given moment, meaning that even if my main force was busy assaulting the city, I could have a few in reserve to deal with the wave. That said, temporarily suspending your assault on the city to use your strike force as extra muscle where needed is okay, so long as you are pushing through the city effectively/efficiently.

Note: Do not under any circumstances bring normal foot soldiers to assault the city. Even it's least defences are heavy enough to deal large losses to those vulnerable to catapults. Once these tower defences are removed you may move such soldiers in, but if you are strong enough to do so with your heavy troops, you will not need to.

Sun Tsu Said:
"In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory."

While you may think that the best method for attacking the castle is to assault directly from the Northern Gate, this is, in fact, and efficient way to waste your resources and troops. Much like the Inner Baily and Garrisoned areas near the Castle, the Northern gate has bunch's of heavily armed towers which require excessive volumes of troops or siege machines to deal with.

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Remember, Sun Tsu Also Said:
"The general, unable to control his irritation, will launch his men to the assault like swarming ants, with the result that one-third of his men are slain, while the town still remains untaken. Such are the disastrous effects of a siege."

While taking the castle this way is certainly possible, I believe the more effective way is to move through the Civilian areas of the Eastern District.

These areas of the city are lightly defended and full of buildings which provide valuable crystals with which to better destroy the heavy interior defences of the city. As soon as you reach Townhall III see to building an advanced Stables, and produce Mounted Knights. a simple force of 10-20 of these knights can easily breach the farthest corner of the enemies defenses.

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From this point, move from tower to tower destroying defences. When you see an enemy barracks attack it quickly. When Enemy Barracks and Stables are approached in Abbelore they spawn additional units. They can do so once every 50 seconds. If you can quickly deal with the force, and destroy the barracks, do so. This is most easily done through large armies of knights.

If you're numbers are insufficient, do not approach the barracks, hang back and destroy towers or collect crystals by destroying buildings. Else, you can split a smaller force to draw away the barrack's reinforcements before hammering them with your main force.

If the barrack's is near towers, gates, or surrounded by powerful units like Great Swordsman or Enemy Mounted Knights, consider a single meteor (if you have enough crystals to allow for it). A single meteor will not destroy it, but will soften the targets and their defence.

As you progress through the Eastern District do not neglect your defence and economic progress. Continue to expand and grow your strike force. As the siege continues you will want a second Stables and Improved Training Time for you Mounted Knights to more quickly reconstitute your forces. It is wholly possible to take Abbelore using only Mounted Knights, though siege machines can ease your defence and help deal with emplaced defenses, so long as you use trebuchets with towers and improved range.

Once you reach the Garrison Wall, your pace will change and so should your approach.

Sun Tsu Said:
"The rule is, not to besiege walled cities if it can possibly be avoided."

We have reached the point in the siege where we do not want to directly assault the walls and gates if possible. If you are attacking with Siege Equipment, take several trebuchets and build platforms just out of enemy range and begin to hurl rocks at the gate house and towers. Focussing on the gate is ideal as it is our major choke point. You may also wish to station several knights in a line just in front of the trebuchet's to slaughter any forces the enemy sends to rebuke you. Just make sure they are set to stand guard, and not to pursue, lest they be drawn into the enemies defensive range.

This method, while time consuming, is relatively safe. If you are going to do this, you will want to have the trebuchets, builder's houses, and knights ready in some force prior to hitting the garrison wall.

An alternative method is to use several meteors. Do not try to wholly destroy the enemy's defences in this manner. It is, instead, best to destroy the main gate and any barracks located just on the other side of it. This will prevent a protracted fight after breaching the gate, dealing with troops and reinforcements.

In either case, you will need some time to muster your forces and re-negotiate your position. While more mounted knights or other things are being trained, it is also good to take an existing force and finish raiding more of the outposts, if you have not already. These will provide more gold and more crystals, which will both help feed your Knight Training budget and your Meteor Budget.

If you have not fully cleared out the Eastern District, do so now, and be sure to collect the gold found by the shipping yards along the Southern edge of the map. With all Barracks in the district or outpost destroyed and much of it's defences crippled, you don't need to watch your forces too strictly. Mounted Knights are extremely tough, and so long as you have sufficient numbers they can deal with most lingering groups of enemies while quickly dividing to overtake these areas.

As Sun Tsu also said:
"Amid the turmoil and tumult of battle, there may be seeming disorder and yet no real disorder at all; amid confusion and chaos, your array may be without head or tail, yet it will be proof against defeat."

Once the Side Gate of the Garrison is destroyed, you will want a larger force than previous to take the main portion of the garrison. Where the Eastern District can be taken with 20-30 Mounted Knights, you'll want *at least* 50-60 for a strike force in the next part of your assault.

• With the Gate gone, attack barracks quickly, and deprive the enemy of reinforcements.
  
• Don't get caught on the bridge over the moat
  
• Once the Barracks are destroyed, move your knights into the alcoves of the towers so they may repulse enemy troops and deal damage to the towers.

Strictly speaking you do not need to take the whole Garrison, just fight to the next gate. However, I suggest taking as many towers as you can, as well as any barracks which spawns enemies which are likely to attack you while sending troops to the Inner Bailey and Castle.

Sun Tsu Said:
"When invading hostile territory, the general principle is, that penetrating deeply brings cohesion; penetrating but a short way means dispersion."
We have now reached the Final Gate, the Inner Bailey's Defences, and the Castle. If you have the time and resources, you may assault these defences as you did with the Garrison, but this is time consuming, and also must account for the density of the final towers.

In the strongest parts of the Garrison near the moat and gates there were 4 towers on each side. In the inner bailey we have groups of 4 or 6, as well as singular turrets ringing the walls. Dealing with these is highly cumbersome. If you try to use all your magic accumulated to this point you may be able to full destroy one or two of the turret positions, creating a wide opening for your cavalry. However, you will need to then contend with the huge number of troops the Castle regularly spits out.

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Here is where we may need to re-load most frequently, as we will need to assault the castle quickly. To do this we will need several preparations:

• Upgrade your Dark Knight Summoning so you get additional knights (at this point in your economy affording whatever you need should not be a problem).
  
• Prepare as many Mounted Knights as you can and Station them just outside of the range of the Inner Bailey Towers.
  
• Use some (but not all) of your Magic Crystals to smash the main gate or at least soften it.
  
• You may wish to damage or destroy the turrets, but make sure you have spare magic, as we will need it for the upcoming blitz.

When the time is right, charge your mounted knights (I typically do this with anywhere from 60-100 Knights, with more being ready to be trained to replenish losses). As you approach the gate you should start seeing more of the inside of the Bailey, and be able to spawn your Dark Knights in behind the enemy.

When you do this, summon them as close to the Castle as possible. This proximity with cause the enemy to spawn it's reinforcements as well as cause the majority of their forces to descend on them.

Your Dark Knights do not need to kill anything.
They do not need to do damage to the castle.
They do not need to draw the ridiculous volume of tower fire that they likely will receive.

All they need to do is spawn the reinforcements and draw all enemies close enough to bombard them with a meteor. This will remove the physical impediments to reaching the castle. Rush with your Mounted Knights and focus on the Castle.

Do not use more magic to deal damage to the Castle. This process will take longer that 50 seconds, so more enemies will spawn. When this happens use your remaining magic to heal your knights to prevent them from depleting, and use a well planned meteor or two on either side of the inevitable pincer from the enemy when they spawn to deal a little extra damage, while also killing the majority of reinforcements.

Getting the process done right may require you to reload, but it is an effective strategy which allows victory only using Mounted Knights in a relatively quick manner.

Sun Tsu Said:
"The general that hearkens to my counsel and acts upon it, will conquer: let such a one be retained in command!
The general that hearkens not to my counsel nor acts upon it, will suffer defeat: let such a one be dismissed!"

Listen, if you read all this, you probably have a good idea of what I am going to say. Abbelore is harder than many missions, but if you got to it you are hardly a babe in the woods. Still, here are some things:

Sun Tsu Said:
"He wins his battles by making no mistakes. Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated."

Pause and reload as much as you need. You have the ability to re-try until you don't make a mistake.


Sun Tsu Said:
"Rapidity is the essence of war: take advantage of the enemy's unreadiness, make your way by unexpected routes, and attack unguarded spots."

Timing is most important in this mission. Your greatest boon is that you know when and where the enemy is going to attack, and that every place they defend they will only attack if provoked. Level up your Townhall Quickly, attack the first two outposts near you base quickly, and attack the most unguarded point of the city as early as possible.

Sun Tsu Said:
"What enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, is foreknowledge."

You don't just know when and waves are coming, you can also send out riders to scout the map. You can also reload after that and still know where things are. You may think that's bullsh*t save scumming, but if Sun Tsu had precognition he would have used it, and beaten every honorable idiot who refused to do the same, so I don't see why we shouldn't.

Sun Tsu's: The Art of War is only about 10,000 words. That means this whole guide is about half as long as that entire text. I'm serious.

Cheers.