Recap / Battle for Wesnoth – Eastern Invasion

Mainline from: 0.7.9
Created by: Joseph Simmons (turin)
Takes place in: 625 YW

For a long time, peace has reigned in Wesnoth: Gweddry is an ordinary sergeant in charge of an unassuming frontier keep somewhere in the east, content with his lot in life, until one day, Necromancers and undead attack the fortress. What seems to be an accident takes a turn for the worst when it becomes clear that the Undead are many and lead by an evil presence who answers to the name of Mal Ravanal. With the help of the court wizard Dacyn, Gweddry must lead his forces across the harsh and unforgiving wild lands to escape this tidal wave of undead, warn Wesnoth and mount a counterattack to put an end to the threat of Mal Ravanal.

This Campaign contains examples of:

• Big Bad: Mal Ravanal, like Asheviere, has the honor of being the main villain in both this campaign and in another, Dead Water.
• Climax Boss: The orc king Dal Drak, ruler of a massive clan of orcs and trolls somewhere near Lake Vrug, is a massive threat to the heroes fought midway through the story and must be overcome to proceed (though it's not mandatory to slay him, as the only mission involving him requires that Gweddry reaches the exit of the western tunnels before he runs out of turns).
• Call-Back: In the flooded plains, you have to slay Khalkras, a massive Skeletal Dragon who holds the MacGuffin required to defeat Mal Ravanal. As Dacyn explains, he once was the Fire Dragon slain by Haldric to prove his worth to the elves centuries before.
• Duel Boss: After defeating his army, Mal Ravanal sends a taunting message to Gweddry, challenging him to a duel with a handful of guards each to set things once and for all. Accepting the challenge provides you with a way to end the war sooner (if you refuse, you'll have to face another siege, this time facing Mal Ravanal and his elite troops). Versions from 1.16 onwards has Dacyn himself suggest the duel option, knowing very well that Mal Ravanal won't turn down a chance at killing Dacyn.
• Enemy Mine: On the way north, you can encounter a band of Ogres at odds with some local Orcs. If you complete the scenario by slaying the Orcish Warlord, the Ogres will join your forces (if you don't, then you have to play a scenario where you have to capture and subdue some youg Ogres).
• Fantastic Racism: The scenario "Xenophobia" has a camp of elves and one of dwarves not only refusing to help Gweddry's group dealing with some orcs but also becoming hostiles only because they really can't stand the thought of humans walking their lands. Because they also insult one another, the resulting battle involves all factions against one another.
• Final Boss Preview: If you insisit going east when given the chance early on, you'll end up in Mal Ravanal's swamp stronghold, facing the man himself. However, the Lich is too powerful and your troops too unexperienced, so you're forced to flee north... though you can, if you're lucky, free some Paladins who will join your army, bestowing you with a handful of rare units useful against the Undead.
• Hope Spot: Gweddry's army seemingly reached a safe spot in the northern mountains... only to be ambushed by a gang of elite Trolls and taken prisoner.
• Keystone Army: As mentioned in the final scenario's outro, as soon as Mal Ravanal is destroyed for good, his entire army of undead collapse into lifeless bones, with the human followers presumably running away or losing their powers.
• MacGuffin Guardian: Mal Ravanal's magic reanimated the carcass of Khalkras the Dragon, who holds a magic stone with Anti-Magic powers. Dacyn wants to use this stone to prevent the lich's Villain Teleportation and make sure he's destroyed.
• My Rules Are Not Your Rules: "The Flooded Plains" has several undead troops of all types (except bats and necromancers) hiding in swamp tiles to ambush any units coming too close to them, even if undeads cannot perform ambushes in swamps (only in deep water or, in the Shade's case, anywhere at nighttime).
• Orcus on His Throne: Mal Ravanal does appear in the very first scenario, only to comment about how weak Gweddry's group is and immediately leaves the battlefield and lets his minions fight by themselves. Despite being too powerful for Gweddry's group to defeat in the early part of the campaign, Mal Ravanal only fight the group if Gweddry fruitlessly tries to attack his domain and at the end of the campaign when Dacyn has find a way to permanently put him down.
• The Reveal: Before the final battle, Dacyn reveals the story of Mal Ravanal: he, as Ravanal, and Dacyn were the greatest white mages of the kingdom, suited for the place of court mage, but a oracle sensed evil in Ravanal and had king Conrad II nominate Dacyn in his place. Ravanal was so jealous he tried to turn to darker arts to learn more about them and grow more powerful than Dacyn, but was corrupted and became an evil sorcerer and, when struck down by Dacyn in a duel, a lich.
• Sadistic Choice: After escaping the Orcish caverns, you'll have to undergo a truly dire choice: the standard solution involves getting south of the only bridge, which is then destroyed... but any unit who's not recalled or stuck north of the bridge when this happens is lost forever, which forces you to rebuild your army from scratch. The other choice involves slaying three powerful Troll Heroes nestled in montainous ground.
• Senseless Sacrifice: Discussed and defied: when the royal archmage accuses Gweddry and Dacyn of being cowards who left their settlement rather than stay there and fight, Dacyn dryly points out that if they did so, they would have died for nothing and now Mal Ravanal's army would have slightly more soldiers.
• The Siege: The penultimate battle involves defending Weldyn from the incoming hordes of the living dead. If you refuse Mal Ravanal's challenge/follow Owaec's advice, then the final battle is another siege, this time with Mal Ravanal leading the troops.
• Two Roads Before You:
  • In the third scenario, you have to choose between two paths and two enemy leaders to kill: going west will bring you back to Wesnoth towards the settlement of Owaec, going eastward will instead have you push towards Mal Ravanal's stronghold.
  • After obtaining the help of Owaec, you can either listen to his advice and go north immediately to push through orcish barricades or listen to Dacyn and slay the undead in your way to go further westward and seek a less defended ford to cross the river. The first path is a sure way to encounter Grug, who provides Gweddry with Ogres if aided.
• Underestimating Badassery: Up to the final level, pretty much all the allies you encounter (be them dwarves, elves or humans) severely underestimate the sheer size and power of the undead invasion, thinking it's merely an infestation they can fight back and chiding Gweddry's group for running away: by the end of the campaign, all the land east of Weldyn is turned in a wasteland of marshes and the capital nearly falls.