Recap / Age Of Empires III - Act II: Ice

Recap pages are Spoilers Off by default, so in all these pages all spoilers are unmarked. Proceed with caution. You Have Been Warned

The second act of the base game, Ice takes place after Morgan Black and the Knights of St. John's defeat of the Circle of Ossus. It follows Morgan's grandson, John Black, a mercenary who's being paid by the British colonies in order to protect them. Accompanying him is Kanyenke (Ká:nien in Definitive Edition), an Iroquois/Haudenosaunee tracker who's also part of John's mercenaries and is John's best friend. They answer a call from John's uncle, Stuart Black, about the colony being under attack from Cherokee invaders. It's later revealed that these invaders are in league with forces commanded by Warwick, a renegade British general.

The missions that compose this campaign are "Defend the Colony", "Strange Alliances", "The Rescue", "The Seven Years' War", "The Great Lakes", "Respect", "Warwick's Stronghold" and "Bring Down the Mountain". Your Home City is called "John Black's Mercenaries", and becomes available at the beginning, being customizable prior to "Strange Alliances".

Followed by Act III: Steel and chronologically by Act I: Fire of The WarChiefs.

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This campaign shows examples of:

• Anachronism Stew:
  • The campaign disregards all plausibility by having Morgan's fourth son Stuart and grandson John living in North America during the Seven Years War (1756-1763). They don't even look old. The only possible explanation is that Morgan drank from the Fountain of Youth, but then, why would its effects be a mystery to his great-great-granddaughter, Amelia?
  • While still in the Seven Years War, John enlists the help of miners handling dynamite sticks (patented 1867), and uses barrels very clearly labeled "TNT" (1863) and a Plunger Detonator (1878) to cause an avalanche.
• Anti-Grinding:
  • "Respect", the mission where Kanyenke/Ká:nien and John try to gain the favor of the Lakota Tribe Chiefs, has a cap of 10000 XP. The moment said XP is reached, the mission ends.
  • "Defend the Colony" and "Warwick's Stronghold", the first and seventh mission, are 15-minute Timed Missions, severely limiting the amount of XP the player can grind.
• Anyone Can Die: Stuart Black, John Black, and Warwick eat the dust halfway for the former and at the very end for the latter two of the campaign.
• Baseless Mission:
  • "Strange Alliances" begins with John, Kanyenke/Ká:nien and a small contingent counterattacking the invading Cherokee, only to find out that the Cherokee are in league with the British. Then a Town Center wagon escapes from the invaded settlement, and it's used to start a new town.
  • "Warwick's Stronghold" forces you to capture resource wagons and send units from your Home City, as you can't train nor send Settlers from your Home City nor create Town Centers.
• Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: The Seven Years' War was an attempt by the Circle of Ossus to obtain the Fountain of Youth by using the Russian Czar to conquer the Americas for them while the Western colonial powers were distracted and weakened from killing each other.
• Big Damn Heroes: In "Defend the Colony", John's Mercenaries come to defend the colony after the time is out.
• Defeat Means Friendship: The British army John and Kanyenke/Ká:nien defeat in "The Seven Years' War" joins them in their pursuit of Warwick's army.
• Early-Bird Cameo:
  • It's possible to hire Hessian Jaegers upon reaching the Industrial Age. Hessian Mercenaries are one of the main antagonists of The WarChiefs Act I: Fire.
  • It's also possible to hire German Black Riders before these chase Amelia and Kanyenke/Kánien through the Andes in Act III: Steel.
  • The "Hire Mediterranean Mercenary Army" ships a Li'l Bombard and a bunch of Elmeti and Zouaves, all units the Italian civilization introduced in the Knights of the Mediterranean DLC for the Definitive Edition of the game can train normally.
• Edutainment Game: "The Seven Years' War" has the player fighting in the Seven Years' War for the French.
• Escort Mission: In "Respect", one of the sub-missions is to escort a lost Indian girl to safety on her village. Another sub-mission requires you to escort a beefy and slow-as-a-snail Buffalo to a tribe. Both of them lack the Gameplay Ally Immortality that affects the main characters.
• Fade to White: In the final cutscene, after the explosives are detonated and the avalanche buries the Russians, there's a brief moment of the trope symbolizing death in snow.
• Foreshadowing:
  • After being attacked by Warwick, Nonahkee's Iroquois/Haudenosaunee allies with the French, who are fighting the British in the Seven Years' War. John tells her that she "should not trust the French". The French aren't a problem in "Ice"... however one of the cutscenes in Steel is named "Never trust a French prospector", and the Big Bad of the campaign is of French extraction.
  • The campaign ends with the birth of John's son and Amelia's father, Nathaniel Black, a Posthumous Character who was "a patriot, not a businessman", and who wasted the fortune given to the Blacks by the British government for John's actions. In the expansion's campaign Fire, you discover that Nathaniel wasted that family fortune helping build the Continental Army and fighting against the British in the American Revolution.
• Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: Regardless of John's efforts at defending Brunswick, the ending cutscene shows that the colony and its recent expansions are completely wrecked by the Cherokee, forcing him to bring the attack back to their camps.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: John and Kanyenke/Ká:nien. It continues long after John's death with Kanyenke/Ká:nien helping raise his son and granddaughter, although in fairness, those are also his nephew and grandniece.
• Hold the Line: "Defend The Colony" in Ice requires you to hold the Cherokee incursion for 15 minutes.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: Warwick bites the dust in the final cutscene after escaping punishment and defeat for the duration of the campaign.
• Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: Warwick defects from the British army, attacks a colony guarded by the Black family company and kidnaps Stuart Black. When John investigates, he finds that the Circle has enlisted the help of the Russian Empire to conquer North America for them.
• Mythology Gag: The lost daughter of the Sioux/Lakota chief in "Respect" is named Greta, like the lost daughter of the Norse chief, Greta Forkbeard. She has the same icon except with brown hair instead of blonde.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: By going after the Black Family (whose ancestors did took down the Circle), Warwick ensures the failure of his master plan and his own death. In the long run, not only Warwick's actions hurt the circle to such an extent that it took generations for them to recover, but also made the entire world aware of the Circle's existence, making their downfall at the end of Steel a Foregone Conclusion.
• Private Military Contractors:
  • John Black leads a company of them.
  • Several Home City cards ship different mercenary unit compositions:
    • "Band of Landsknecht Mercenaries" ships 4 Landsknecht at the cost of 400 coin from Fortress Age onwards.
    • "Hire Hessian Jaegers" ships 10 Jaeger at the cost of 1000 coin from Industrial Age onwards.
    • "Hire German Black Riders" ships 7 Black Riders at the cost of 1000 coin from Industrial Age onwards.
    • "Hire Holy Roman Army" ships 7 Jaeger, 5 Black Rider and 4 Landsknecht at the cost of 2000 coin from Fortress Age onwards (requires Home City level 10).
    • "Hire Landsknecht Mercenaries" ships 8 Landsknecht at the cost of 1000 coin from Fortress Age onwards (requires Home City level 10).
    • "Hire Highland Mercenary Army" ships 6 Highlanders, 8 Swiss Pikemen and 4 Hackapelit at the cost of 2000 coin from Fortress Age onwards (requires Home City level 10).
    • "Hire Mediterranean Mercenary Army" ships 1 Li'l Bombard, 3 Elmeti and 4 Zouaves at the cost of 2000 coin from Fortress Age onwards (requires Home City level 10).
    • "Hire Asian Mercenary Army" ships 7 Manchu and 5 Ronin at the cost of 2000 coin from Fortress Age onwards (requires Home City level 10).
• Protection Mission:
  • In "The Rescue", the player must not let the enemy destroy the outpost and trade post in the Iroquois village.
  • In "Respect", the player must win the scenario before the Lakota chiefs are killed.
• Resource-Gathering Mission: "Respect" requires John and Kanyenke/Ká:nien to gather 10000 XP before all 5 Lakotan leaders are taken down.
• Right-Hand Attack Dog: The Home City card "Mercenary Drills" allows Kanyenke/Ká:nien to create pet wolves.
• Timed Mission: "Warwick's Fortress" requires you to destroy Warwick's Town Center in 15 minutes while stealing resource carts and having some settlers to collect these resources.
• Too Awesome to Use: The high-end cards "Cavalry Combat"^note Ships 3 Uhlans, Uhlans +10% attack +10% HP, War Wagons +10% attack +10% HP, "2 Heavy Cannon"^note Ships 2 Heavy Cannons, "Advanced Trading Posts"^note Trading Posts +50% HP, -40% cheaper, and get a ranged attack, "Heavy Fortifications"^note Grants all defensive building upgrades (if not already obtained), "Advanced Estate/Plantation"^note Estates/Plantations +100% HP, -31% cost, and can be built in the Discovery/Exploration Age, "Exotic Hardwoods"^note Settlers wood gathering speed +15%, "Royal Mint"^note Settlers coin gathering speed +15%, "Medicine"^note Villager training time -10% and "Mercenary Loyalty"^note Ships 3 Uhlans, Mercenary Shipments -10% to -25% cheaper are locked for players under Level 25, requiring you to grind EVEN MORE than for Level 10 cards in Blood. For perspective, by the time you reach "Warwick's Fortress", you may possibly be at Level 21.
• Young Future Famous People: George Washington appears briefly as a British colonel in the closing cutscene of "The Seven Years' War", and appears briefly in "The Great Lakes".

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