17b — Lizard Beach

Identity

Story and premise

Haldric reaches a sunny beach where Saurians are trading metal to their Naga allies. The Saurians call the refugees “monsters,” while Jessene points out the irony. The tactical premise is straightforward: defeat both leaders before their maritime support overwhelms the landing.

Map description

The 37 × 27 map places ocean and beach terrain along the western edge, with sand, grass, forest, swamp, villages, roads, and two Saurian keeps inland. The refugees approach from the east. Reaching x-coordinate 16 or farther west represents breaking onto the beach and triggers the Naga counterlanding.

Sides and AI

Easy uses Naga Fighters, Skirmishers, Mudcrawlers, Giant Mudcrawlers, and Augurs. Higher difficulties add Ambushers, Giant Scorpions, and advanced Saurian healers. Each enemy side is limited to 1 / 2 / 3 simultaneous Giant Mudcrawler recruits.

Beach reinforcement event

The first side-1 unit entering x 1–16 triggers a fake Naga arrival from the western edge and creates:

Riaa states the economic reason for the alliance: the Naga need the Saurians’ metal.

Mutual leader funding

This makes the second leader substantially harder and prevents the battle from collapsing after the first keep falls.

Mudcrawler split

Every Giant Mudcrawler death creates one Mudcrawler for each enemy side at the death location. On Easy they are created without traits; on Normal and Hard they are loyal. The first split triggers Haldric’s warning line.

Hub-state write

{VARIABLE_OP num_done add 1}
[set_variable]
    name=a_beach
    value=1
[/set_variable]
[set_variable]
    name=last_done
    value="Beach"
[/set_variable]

The branch then ends with bonus victory and 40% carryover.

Lessons for campaign authors

Scenario WML · Map source · Quest comparison