There are two levels of victory on each map, standard and guardian. Each map has a specific goal that must be attained, usually before a set number of turns, in order to be deemed a victory. The campaign sort of throws you in the deep end and watches you struggle to survive, then laughs wholeheartedly at your utter failure. There is a quick tutorial that gives you the basics, but learning the particular nuances of the game and being successful, well, that’s totally up to you and I wish you all the best with it because I found it tough to succeed.
The odds certainly feel stacked against the player through much the campaign. In many missions the enemy has more units and those units are 2x-3x stronger. Not only that but there is so much information to consider in the game that, at times, it’s just overwhelming, which adds to the game’s frustration level. But after a few tries in some scenarios you should have a fine-tuned sense of your strategy and be able to succeed. Still, it will be tough.
Every single type of terrain on the board has some effect on the gameplay, whether that be a bonus for cavalry or ranged, healing or missile defense. This is so vital to success and somewhat overlooked in the tutorials, that I suggest you take a good hard look at the board and the bonuses/penalties and then keep them front and center during the battle. You really need to think and pay attention to where you not only place your troops but where you hold your battles. Also you gain mana based on how many squares you control and you need mana to place units and cast spells and this is another vital piece of the puzzle. Some spaces are worth more [mana] than others but the information on how that works seems lost.
The game plods forward where at times it feels like you’ve been playing for a half hour and just finished a turn or two. No wait, that’s not a feeling, that’s actually the speed of the game quite often. On top of that, for much of that half hour, you’re watching your units get slaughtered because of the power difference between you and the enemy. Some of the CPU moves take so long that I started reading a book or watching some Batman cartoons in between my turns to pass the time, no really, I’m serious. The word futility came to mind several times while watching my units just get mowed down one after another. But as I said, trial and error breeds success in this game. Plus, you have to really understand the goal of particular scenarios. Is it to simply defend a position, wipe out the enemy or take control of some key spots? This can often be the difference between success and failure and whether you win or loss against superior numbers.
