Getting enough experienced units through Anduin

[jonadab]

Okay, I'm fairly new to the game, and I'm having a hard time evaluating my playing level. I'm playing the Heir to the Throne campaign, and the first time through, when I got to the third level (Anduin), at first it was like a brick wall -- I was getting totally overwhelmed. So I stepped back and analyzed why and determined that it was because the enemy controlled too many villages right out of the gate, and I wasn't taking enough of them from him fast enough. The strategy I'd been using up to that point involved attmepting to maintain a well-balanced force with about two of each kind of unit, but that just wasn't working. So I changed strategy, went back and recruited all scouts, and breezed through the first three levels, no sweat.

But then I got to Elensefar, and my army was *wholly* inadequate. From reading the various comments on these fora, especially regarding Elensefar, it appears my first strategy was closer to correct.

So I compromised, and modified my first strategy: I followed it (more or less) for the first two levels, but then recruited extra scouts when I got to Anduin. However, now I'm having something of a difficult time getting my experienced units through the Anduin level alive. I could, of course, just play the level with expendible units, keep Konrad and Delfador out of harm's way, and go back to army-building on the next scenerio, but I'm not sure that will keep me on track for having what I need for Elensefar.

So then it occurs to me, maybe I'm *already* not on track. Here's what I've done in my latest attempt:

1:TEB:
Konrad got to 11/28 XP
Delfador got to 532/-
(Yes, I know Delfador's XP is worthless, but sometimes I needed him to kill something to reduce the size of the force I was facing, lest other units perish; is that a symptom of some mistake I'm making, or is it normal?)
Recruits:
Two elvish fighters; both died.
Archer Isil-Gawien (loyal), to 12/44 XP.
Archer Legeth, got to 10/44 XP.
Shaman Thrada => Druid, 0/80
Shaman Thra, to 8/26 XP.
2:BP:
Konrad to 12/28
Delfador to 548/-
Haldiel to 10/44
Legeth to 28/44
Isil-Gawien died.
Thra to 9/26
Thrada still at 0/80
Recruits:
Horseman Tyddry (loyal) to 10/44
Elvish fighter Urondir (loyal) to 11/38
Elvish fighter Sil-Galilith to 4/31
Elvish archer Tuniong to 2/44

Am I making enough progress on these first two scenerios? Or am I already behind? Should I have replayed when the loyal archer died, or does stuff just happen sometimes? Should I have replayed the first level because my two fighters both died, or will there be ample time to build up fighters in later levels, since I got my druid on level 1? How much gain per level is enough?

[Yogibear]

OK, much of course depends on the level you are playing. But to get around in all situations you can put it like this:

To master Elensefar you need a minimum of about 300 gold, 350 is better. You also need some level two units, about 3 to 4 preferably more, or at least units that are very close to leveling up. And IMHO if you want to survive the skeletons of Elensefar AND the next level you need mages, preferably white mages (two of them is perfect, maybe one is enough).

So within the preceeding scenarios you need to achieve two things:
- accumulate enough gold
- level up enough units

There is three scenarios, that you can end very early and therefore get a lot of gold out of them. They are the three first scenarios. The second is a little bit tricky but the orc leader tends to leave his castle and you can use Delfador to weaken him and another unit to finish him.

Then there is two scenarios that are suitable for leveling up units: Bay of Pearls and Muff Malaals peninsula. You got masses of enemies and it is very difficult to end those early. So try to get as many villages as possible to further increment your gold and concentrate on leveling up/prepare the units you need for Elensefar, especially the mages. They are difficult to level up, because they need many XP. Try to have an intelligent mage. If you level him up in Elensefar thats ok, just do it before the skeletons arrive.

In general: Try to make Konrad gain XP if possible. Of course don't put him in dangerous situations to achieve that. But there is always possibilities where he can collect XP without risking anything. It's perfectly all right to use Delfador in critical situations. Just don't let him take away easy kills.

[im the one you think of]

you need to be concentrating more on getting your units to survive and less on progressing through the game i find that you should have at least 3 level 2s by anduin and a max of 2 deaths, this might take a while to achieve but it has to be done, normally at anduin ill have 2 levels 3s and 3 level2s but everyone has different ways of doing things. http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7064
this is a walkthrough for the first few levels that you will find extremely useful

[Alex Mars]

How do you level up Konrad? I need him in the capitol to recruit/recall troops.

I've hit the same wall in Elsenfar that the original poster did, playing on Normal difficulty. It's very frustrating, personally I think the difficulty ramps up a bit too steeply on this map. I've dropped back to the Bay of Pearls map to try to build up a better force.

[Pythagoras]

How do you level up Konrad? I need him in the capitol to recruit/recall troops.

I've hit the same wall in Elsenfar that the original poster did, playing on Normal difficulty. It's very frustrating, personally I think the difficulty ramps up a bit too steeply on this map. I've dropped back to the Bay of Pearls map to try to build up a better force.

Recruit all you need in the first couple of turns (you want to save your gold for the next scenario) then let Konrad come out and give your troops a hand.