Castle Alamar (scenario)

Castle Alamar
Scenario information
Type	Campaign
Campaign	A Strategic Quest
Objectives	Capture Castle Alamar
Loss condition	Lose all towns and heroes
Players	2
Lore
Factions	Warlocks of Enroth (Mountain) vs. Kingdom of Enroth (Farm) or Barbarians of the Frozen Highlands (Plains) or Sorceresses of Enroth (Forest)
Player identity	Optional Lord Ironfist (canonically)
Next scenario	King-of-the-Hill

Castle Alamar is the eighth scenario of the A Strategic Quest campaign in Heroes of Might and Magic: A Strategic Quest. It is omitted if playing as Lord Alamar. It is followed by King-of-the-Hill.

Strategy

There are three main sections to the map. The player starts in the northwest corner with a castle and matching town in a large grass area. There's a second matching town type that can be captured, and the area has enough mines and resources that three castles with all troop dwellings can be built. Past the grass area is the Minotaur Maze, a swampy area with mountains forming a highly complicated and lengthy maze. At the end of the maze is Alamar's home territory, a volcanic region in the southeastern corner of the map with a total of five warlock castles. 

While the maze is quite long, it's actually easy to identify the correct way to go because gargoyle wandering armies guard the path that leads to warlock territory. As long as the gargoyles are followed, the path will eventually lead to Alamar. However, Dimension Door is an invaluable aid for traversing the maze and making it easier than it's supposed to be. Once lava terrain is found, a hero can simply Dimension Door over and bypass much of the maze. Another good strategy is to use a barbarian hero to travel through, even if the player is a knight or sorceress. Their ability to travel through all bad terrain is a great asset in the swampy maze.

Obelisks are located throughout the maze, and each is guarded by 99 ghosts. If the player wants to look for the Ultimate Artifact, it's highly recommended to use the spell Turn Undead if available. 

In-game descriptions

Introduction

The warlocks' castle lies shrouded in the smokey volcanic rift. To reach Lord Alamar's home castle in the extreme southeast, you must wander through the Minotaur Maze. The warlocks are overconfident and not expecting an attack, so sure are they that none can navigate the maze. Gargoyles have been set to dissuade invaders from the true path.^OffBck

Victory message

You have followed the gargoyles to the castle of Lord Alamar and have shattered the might of the warlocks.^OffBck

Trivia

The assault on Castle Alamar is described in the Letters from Lord Ironfist. It is mentioned that Alamar was able to escape after his defeat.