The battle has begun.
Turn 0
Looking around the map, I notice a few things about this scenario:
- There are no "free" villages to claim; instead each leader already controls a chunk of villages. Except the elves in the south, where the villages are all neutral for some reason. This will require the elves to spend a turn or two grabbing what should be "their" villages.
- Each orc leader plus Rakshas starts with 1000 gold. Rakshas has 57 units from the level 3 orcs around the fortress walls, though, so he starts with large negative income (-150 or so). So the orcs' total force is going to be limited (though large) as they will all rapidly go to negative income.
- We and our allies all have multiple thousands of gold...enough that we should not really have any difficulty winning this war of attrition. Our biggest concern will be keeping the designated leaders alive, especially Hamel.
Turn 1
OK, we start for real by recalling our best flatland troops -- fugitives, mostly. I just wish we had more of them. Our loyal units move forward but stay out of movement range of the wall guards. I start moving one of the white mages northwest to try to get her to the lich's forces so they will have some healing other than troll regeneration.
IBT the orcs recruit full keeps, as expected. Some of the wall guards move out to attack Hamel's dwarves as they are close to the west; the other three forces start farther from the orc fortress and draw no response yet.
Our lich recruits a bunch of orgres, trolls, and red mages.
The elves recruit some extra druids who will be sent to aid the dwarves. I include three level 1 elf fighters for village claiming duty.
Turn 2
More recalling, including a lot of dwarven lords since they are what we have even though they are terrible on open ground. The white mage continues on her way, staying out of range of the wall guards. We begin forming a line, again staying out of range of the orcs for now.
IBT more orcs get recruited. A lot of orc units are moving east, which is good -- we want to draw some of the pressure off Hamel. Others are moving north, south, and west.
The lich recruits more of the same, as do the elves.
Turn 3
Still more recalling, although we are down to the dregs of our available units with level 2s. I have formed a long north/south defensive line and am waiting to catch the orces on the flat ground.
I considered advancing and trying to hold the line of the moat, forcing the orcs to fight in the water. But we would have gotten flanked at either end. Instead the new troops moving up extend the line, and next turn we can advance a bit if we decide to.
IBT the orcs move forward, but these are the newly recruited units and not the wall guards. (See image above, as it was taken after the orc turn.)
The lich forces attack the leading orc units, killing a few. Our ogres and trolls will get slammed by the orcish ranged units, but there is not a lot we can do about that. At least we can hammer the crossbows when we attack with strong melee units.
Hamel's dwarves are heavily engaged now, with multiple dwarves dying but also multiple orcs. Both sides are taking significant losses, but Hamel has bonus base income and decent gold so he should continue recruiting steadily.
The elvish druids (3 of them) are moving towards the dwarves, and I recruited 3 elvish riders this turn as well so send them along with their fast movement. The rest of the elvish forces move to defend the edge of the forest as most of the villages have been claimed. Grab the last two next turn and keep recruiting.
The main battle is about to begin; I have tried to set up a decent mix of forces and positions for the upcoming rounds. One suggestion is to have the lich recruit a full keep of gryphons next round and send them to help the dwarves -- we have to work to keep Hamel safe.
The white mage's path to the lich forces is not entirely clear -- at least one orc can reach her if she crosses the river and moves north. But that should be survivable and then she can run the rest of the way to safety. Just don't use the bridge -- too many orcs could reach her that way.
A quick note on turn order: Humans first, then orcs, then lich, then Hamel (AI), then the elves. It was a little confusing first time through, with the orcs moving between us and our allies.
Good luck!