Battle For Middle-Earth Good Campaign Map 17, Act 18 - Cirith Ungol (Shelob's Lair)

To the north west of the picture below you will enter the chamber with a lost Troll. Keep well away from there for now until you have rescued enough archers.

Keep rescued troops away from the archer & kill them all with Sam's stone throwing.

There are at least 3 soldiers to rescue in this chamber.

Another 3 here. Don't go any further south yet.

I decided to seek out the troll at this stage. Save the game before though.

Send Sam & all your archers to kill the troll. You should be able to manage it with one heal without losing anyone.

Scout around the chamber, free another 2 soldiers & collect treasure.

At this point I had rescued 10 Soldiers & 7 Archers. Group them separately as it will help you defend against Shelob whoi will be waiting just south of this passage.

I managed to kill Shelob after a drawn out battle where she kept picking on Sam. Got him using Sting & before long Shelob was history. To the east of the chamber immediately you encounter Shelob is the way to Cirith Ungol. Head west first to scout around the rest of the map to pick up treasure & rescue other soldiers.

I had now freed another 5 archers & 2 soldiers. Unfortunately my objective list said I hadn't freed all the webbed soldiers so decided to save & head back through the map to see if I had missed anywhere. Found 1 archer here but still not all of them apparently so headed for Cirith Ungol.

At this point I had 12 archers & 12 soldiers so with Sam's rock throwing I attacked the Rocs at the outpost head on. Another battalion will start heading over the bridge so build camp as soon as possible & defend against attackers. I had 13,300 in resources so build a blacksmith, barracks & archer range.

Destroy Lumber Mills to the south for extra treasure. There is no plot here so are unable to build a farm. Set everyone guarding the base from attacks from over the bridge, buy & upgrade combined battalions of soldier -archers one combination at a time.

I had to wait quite some time before the blacksmith was upgraded but figure I should be able to train 5 soldier - archer combinations & afford the upgrades so build 4 sets first to get the fire arrow upgrade from the archery range. Carry out the upgrades when the combinations are joined as the cost seems to be the same for a combo as a single battalion. Just as the fourth battalion of archers & soldiers emerge, both structures are upgraded enabling fire arrow purchase. Upgrade all archers when available & wait for blacksmith upgrade. After around 5 minutes of waiting the blacksmith is upgrade so buy all upgrades & apply to all troops when ready. Sadly all the troops rescued from the webs can not be upgraded. Whilst the upgrades are being applied defend the various enemy skirmishes that venture across the bridge. Upgrading took another 5 minutes or so as the blacksmith & citadel brought in resources very slowly. When all the upgrades were complete I saved & made my first dash at the main gate to test their strength.

Took out the slaughterhouse to the right of the main gate & numerous Orcs on the defence.

Didn't take too long to clear away 2 Orc pits in the main courtyard whilst defending against crossbows above.

The problem in the second courtyard will be the 2 Trolls. Concentrate all fire arrows on them before they do too much damage.

At first attack I managed to destroy all the enemies & could have ended it then. For a bit of entertainment though I decided to save the game, retreat to the camp & build a few more troops. Let the Orcs build up for a while & give them another thrashing later.

I left all my upgraded combos at the southern end of the bridge & simply picked off all the Orcs as my resources grew & allowed me to train & upgrade troops. It got boring after a while so went off to watch some TV safe in the knowledge that the Orc Pit couldn't produce enough Orcs to get past my troops quick enough. I left Sam on the middle of the bridge throwing rocks with all the fire archers within range behind. Each attack Sam generally managed to kill 2 or 3 Orcs himself before all the rest being slaughtered by the fire arrows.

Objectives - Search for Frodo, Sam must not die, Help the Soldier find the rest of his party, Free all the webbed units in Shelob's lair, Find all treasures in Shelob's lair & Use the Phial.

Prize for total victory - +2 Power.
Total score - 66,389 - Total Victory.

Action now continues with the most awesome & long battle of the game, Minas Tirith. Frodo & Sam are now in Mordor having escaped Cirith Ungol & Shelob's Lair. Gondor Army consisting of Faramir, Gandalf, Pippin, Boromir, 90 Archers, 45 Soldiers & 45 Knights are at Minas Tirith awaiting the onslaught from Mordor. Leading this attack are the Mordor Armies of 360 Orcs & 15 Trolls & 10 Siege Machines, 2,500 Orcs & 100 Trolls on the fields of The Pellenor. Legolas, Aragorn & Gimli are on their way up the River Anduin towards Harlond with the Army of the Dead consisting of 192 Oathbreakers. All other Armies of Mordor still waiting in Mordor. Theoden & his army are heading from Edoras onto Minas Tirith after the beacons were lit.