War & Warriors: Joan of Arc walkthrough

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+  Joan of Arc:  War & Warriors   +
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+          A walkthrough          +
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+               by                +
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+ ex-Brother Thomas Jehanne Marie +
+             M.I.C.M.            +
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+           Version 1.35          +
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Credit
 
I am indebted to Mr. Fung Chun Tung, who first introduced me to some of the secrets of "W&W: Joan of Arc".  While this walkthrough shares some similarities to that of Mr. Tung's, it is, in no way, based upon it, and the reader will note some points of divergence from that of Mr. Tung.
 
The Story
 
Poor history, as always; the game is like a play.  Instead of just watching, however, you, the player, are invited to share in the life of Saint Jehanne la Pucelle, a Saint in Paradise, and celebrate her life, virtues, deeds, and accomplishments.  The scenery is excellent (for instance, position your camera at "ground level" while running and note the detail of the grass; also note the projectiles from the trebuchet as they cross the Loire and the shadows they cast on the bottom of the river), and the music is beautiful.  A very nice novena to Jehanne can be found here:
 
http://www.joanofarc.us/st_joan_of_arc_novena.html

See the Appendices for more resources!
 
The Bugs
 
Unfortunately, Enlight only released one version of the game, no patches.  According to one reviewer, this game was one that "cried out for six more months of development," and he was not kidding.  Below is a list of some of the game errors and what you can do to fix and/or avoid them:
 
1)  Spelling errors.
 
2)  Troop assignment malfunctions -- You try to assign men to a commander and the game tells you that you have reached "their limit," even though you have not.  A second attempt often succeeds.  If RTS mode (more on that later) is off-kilter, try hitting F1 to regain SOME functionality.  Sometimes, the RTS system will reset itself, other times it won't.  Recruit manually when necessary.
 
3)  Archers floating in mid-air -- If you kill some, but not all, of the archers in a tower (which you first encounter on Mission 5), and then destroy the tower using a cannon, fauconneau, and/or trebuchet, the surviving archers will remain on the tower's upper floor, "floating" in mid-air.  Perhaps this is an (unintended) suggestion that the English were under the influence of demonic forces; more likely, it's a software bug that "slipped through" as Enlight tried to get this game "out the door" (the version for the Xbox was never released.)  It is kind of a cool effect, fighting archers who are standing in mid-air, but if you want to avoid it (and keep the gameplay "real"), either destroy the towers completely or kill all the archers within, but not both.
 
4)  Disappearing inventory --  Very, very rare, but it does happen, when transferring from one general to another.  I suppose, as in real life, that food/arrows/weapons/etc., do "go missing."  On one occasion, the Bastard's sword "went missing."  (Perhaps he dropped it?!  Or, perhaps I sold it off during Mission 2?!!)
 
5)  Game crashes -- Very rare, also, but it does (and will) happen.  A patch for Vista is available, as well as a "patch" to unlock the game's "CD-check."
 
6)  Failed objectives -- not due to your fault, but "courtesy" of the game.

7)  An extra letter -- In Mission 5 at Jargeau, you'll pick up a letter from King Henry, which John da la Pole was carrying.  Later on, your inventory may indicate a total of four scrolls and letters instead of three, the duplicate being the letter which John had.  You will still only be able to read three letters.

8)  When talking with Ponce Mercier, a citizen of Chateaudun, in Mission 5 or 6, a "magical lake" will appear next to him *wherever* he is.  If you talk to him right away, no big deal; he's next to the lake in Chateaudun.  Of course, if you wait, he'll start moving around the map, but apparently, the "lake" will move with him!

9)  The moon sometimes rises due north OR due south!  (Hmmm...)

Some bug fixes are in Appendix B.
 
The walkthrough Itself.
 
1)  This walkthrough is for the "Very Hard" level, unlike Mr. Tung's walkthrough, which was for the Normal level.
 
2)  I consider my game to be a failure if Joan or any of my other generals (Bastard of Orleans & Charles included) ever die or are wounded to the point that they withdraw from the battlefield, even once.  If this occurs, I start the game over.  (Fortunately, such no longer occurs.)
 
3)  I must fulfill all of the objectives, even the secondary ones on the first attempt, with only a few exceptions, which I will document later on.
 
4)  None of my Captains (Dunois, d'Illers, etc.) must die or be wounded to the point of withdrawing from a battle.  This is easy to accomplish.  Likewise, the young child in Mission 5 must survive.
 
5)  Minimize civilian casualties.  Some civilians will die, but we want to keep it at a minimum.  (Joan would approve, wouldn't she?)
 
6)  Acquire all the charms/enchanters.  Some charms only appear once, so we will be sure to get those.
 
7)  Maximize the game's dialogue.  It's not possible to get all the dialogue that is available, but we will try to get the most, even the "worthless" stuff.  If you miss something, just reload and replay that section!
 
8)  Joan must end the game at Level 30, the three principle generals at Level 25, and Orleans at least at Level 23, and Arthur at least one level up (Level 16) from where he was when you encounter him near the end of Mission 6.  Charles may get to Level 25 when you encounter him in Mission 8, having started out on Level 24.

9)  "Just the facts..."  I am not going to concentrate on "people, places, things..." too much.  The game and/or manual will provide you with that information.

10)  Note that the description of troops will not be perfect; the game will vary things somewhat.  Hence, you may encounter a 3-man squad of crossbowmen only to encounter a 3-man squad of archers when you play the game over!

The Settings.

1)  In the Game options, set your game difficulty to Very Hard, at least after you played it on the Easy and/or Normal levels.  Just skip the Hard level; it's not worth it.  Set Melee Auto-Targeting to OFF.  This will make the game more entertaining, as well as save a few CPU cycles.

2)  In the Settings Menu, set the following:

    For Video settings,

        Draw Distance -- Max it out to the right.  (Unless your computer is ancient, like this game, you should see the benefit.)
        Dynamic Grass -- Same as above.
        Dynamic Grass Draw Distance -- Ditto.
        Dynamic Grass Draw Density -- :-).
        Shadow -- High Shadow.
        Leave Brightness, Contrast, Gamma at their default values.

    For Input settings, leave everything alone, except change "Riding Mode" to Mode B.

3)  Adjust the audio to your preference -- Leave the "3D sound" as selected (its default value) but you may want to increase the dialogue volume, as the environment sounds can sometimes "drown out" the dialogue.

4)  In the VSetting.exe (which is how I launch the game), do the following:

    3D Device -- Make sure the right one is selected.  (It should be.)
    Video Mode -- "Max out" the resolution & refresh, which, unfortunately, will be limited to 1024x768x32.
    Reflection -- High
    Bump Map Detail -- Yes

See Appendix A for some important information.

5)  The game does benefit from having a HIGH cpu setting for all of your multi-corers out there (nearly everyone.)  It is NOT a multi-threaded game, so pick your least active core and set the cpu affinity & priority accordingly.

Why so Long?

It's a long walkthrough, probably, the longest for this game (longer than Mr. Tung's), but this is the best game (and, one of the fewest) that is devoted to "Joan of Arc."  As a parent of 5 children, I do not play many video games (except those which my kids *make* me play), so this is one of the few which I have time for.  Having played it too much, I decided to write a walkthrough on it.  Even though it is a "simple" game, it has some nuances to it.  It was easier to just to be thorough as opposed to deciding to "pick and choose" what should (and should not) be in the walkthrough.  (I'm a pretty fast typist, as I am sure that you are a speedy reader!)

The Players.
 
Jean de Metz.  He is your aide (as he was in Jehanne's real life), with you from the very beginning until the very end (also true in real life.)  He is a fencer, a poker, and not very effective, except when he does his devastating energy attacks, which means that he will need your protection at all times.  He is fast and agile, and good with the bow.  He dies easily, however, which means that he will never be at the vanguard of any assault, so never send him into battle alone.
 
Etienne la Lire.  Big, fat, and slow, but devastating powerful when he gets his bigger weapons in Mission 7.  A poor marksman, so do not leave him alone, except when necessary.  A leading French commander in real life.
 
Duke Alençon II.  A poor fighter when alone, but good with the bow.  Great for "crowd control" when at the rearguard and leading large numbers of troops.  He is the good-looking guy who will spend most of his time covering your back.  As with the others, do not ever leave him alone unless he is well-stocked with explosive arrows.  He was a real person, also, who was sentenced to death, twice!  (He died in prison.)
 
The Bastard.  Not worthless, as Mr. Tung claims.  We will be using him after he appears in Mission 6 until the very end of the game.  He takes damage very, very easily and starts off at a low level (Level 13, after starting off at Level 3 on Mission 2.)  He has a powerful energy attack and can command even more troops than the Duke, but like him, he is slow.  He should never, ever be left alone.  A real person who sentenced Alencon to die.
 
Charles VII, the Dauphin.  He's nearly worthless as a fighter, which means never, ever leaving him alone.  (He will complain if you do.)  He looks cool and can command 20 troops, which makes him invaluable when he appears on the last mission.  Of course, real, also.
 
The Strategy
 
1)  The game's AI.  It's based upon the principles of fencing.  If an enemy hits you, it's a "touch."  Not only do you lose heath, but you lose the ability to fight back or even block the next attack.  This is how you could die early on -- get surrounded by a bunch of enemies who then strike you repeatedly until you die.  (We will not let this happen, will we?!)  However, the "string pulls both ways," so what the English do to you, you can also do to them.  As you acquire more health through the game, this will become less of a concern, because if you get surrounded and lose a lot of heath, you will drop to the ground and will not be vulnerable to any further attacks, unless you are fighting an English general.  More on that later.
 
2)  Stay together as much as possible.  On Mission 5, the game will try to get you to split your forces, no doubt to make the game more difficult for you!  More on this later (we will not be doing that on Mission 5), but try to keep at least one other general with you at all times, for reasons that I stated in #1 above. The sole exception would be when you are fighting bosses.
 
3)  Keep your troops alive.  You will need them to survive.  As with "compound interest," the more men you have, the less health that you will lose and the more damage you will inflict upon the English and Burgundians.  Unlike them (except for the bosses), you and your men will auto-heal, at least faster.  (On Mission 8, you can observe the regular English & Burgundian units auto-healing.)
 
4)  It's a treasure hunt.  Don't be in a hurry; your survival depends upon that.  If you know what you are doing, this game will take 40 to 50 hours to complete and up to 60 if you want to take your time.  Try fighting during the day, and "treasurer hunt" at night; stuff "glows" at night.
 
5)  The BIG ONE!!!  Here's the Super-Duper hint -- ONLY increase your HP ("Health Points") when you Level up and ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY NOTHING else!!!  The SOLE and ONLY exception to this will be with La Hire.  At Level 15, we will increase his EP ("Energy Points") from 15 to 29.  (Go slow when doing this!)  At the end of the game when Joan reaches Level 30, she should have exactly 1,032 HPs (the developers even coded for the comma!)  Besides, using your upgrade points on anything else is just plain WORTHLESS.  Please trust me on this or stop reading this walkthrough right now and delete it from your computer!!!!

6)  Don't forget to teach your generals new attacks when they level-up.  It's very easy to do.  (Just hit F1 and the armor icon.)  Do NOT increase any of your *existing* attacks; we'll do that later near the end of the game.  At Level 20 do NOT (and, I repeat, do NOT) teach ANY of your generals the "Energy Attack."  More on that later.

7)  Fight with your troops in small passage ways and other "tight" spots.  Doing so will prevent you and your men from being surrounded.

8)  Divide and conquer.  More on this later, but "lead" the English back to your "tightly grouped" men in small numbers, so that you can decimate them while minimizing the damage that you take.  Hypothetically, you should suffer NO casualties throughout the entire game.  Of course, this is an "ideal" (which is likely impossible to ever attain) but the point is that, after Mission 2 (where Jean may lose some men when the English storm Orleans), most of your men should survive to the end of each mission, along, of course, with you AND your generals!  Note that you will lose some men from time to time even when you have food from them in your troop inventory.

9)  Level all of your generals up equally.  You will maximize your EXP points by doing this.  Just keep an eye on your EXP "kill rate" bonuses; when it starts to drop, it is time to switch generals.

10)  Enemy squad captains & bosses will sometimes drop charms or weapons.  Keep an eye out for those.

11)  Be careful about going into RTS mode when you are fighting; you'll lose control of the commander whom you are playing for several seconds and could end-up dying, which, for me at least, would spoil the (my) game!

Grading System???

I have no idea what it is and I have never bothered much with it!  I assume that keeping your troops alive, killing lots of enemies and completing a mission faster will earn you a "higher grade," but if you do this on the VH level, you risk dying yourself!
 
Mission 1 -- The Arrival

Load the game and watch the short movie; it's entertaining.  Near the end, you'll see Jehanne praying in a burnt-out church that you will encounter in Mission 4.  Click "New Campaign" to start the game and select the "Very Hard" level.

You and de Metz start off in a shallow gully, and after some dialogue in a cutscene, you are ready to go.  To your left (as you face West -- the map has the standard cardinal directions) are some shallow hills.  If you could only climb those hills, you would have a straight shot to Orleans.  Instead, press 'Z' to look up at some trees, which you will be able to identify once you reach the other side.  Instead of going west, head southeast into the gully to almost immediately encounter an "invisible wall" (one of many in the game) with a message that "Your duties beckon..."
 
You are north of the city, and the only direction that you can head is west.  The path is one-way, and you must work your way in a "snake-like" path south to Orleans.  Hit Tab to toggle between the short-range and long-range map.  The map can be kind of deceptive, which means that you will need to sometimes "feel" your way around to explore all that the game has to offer.  Often, villagers will show you areas that the map seems to indicate are not accessible.
 
After "hitting" the invisible wall, hit Shift-2.  Jean will have followed you (he's programmed to), but in hitting Shift-2 (unless, of course, you have remapped your keys), he will be placed in a "hold" status, which means that he will no longer follow you but will still fight enemies if they get too close to him.  Head the other way (west) and make your way to your first English camp.  Go slow and read the useful dialogue along the way.  This walkthrough is not intended to replace the game's manual and/or in-screen dialogue, but will tell you things that the manual/game will not.
 
Time for business, and the most difficult battle in the entire game (no kidding -- it's all downhill from here!)  You meet your first English squad, a group of 5 light infantrymen with a commander.  (And, you will only fight Englishmen, light infantry and regular archers, during Mission 1; as such, I refer to them just as "infantry" and "archers", at least until Mission 6.)  With a little analysis, you will soon discover that the game's AI is poor.  Troops that are grouped in squads will have the last name of their commander above their status bars with the commander's full name above his.  They are "loyal" soldiers, which means that they will follow their commander wherever he goes.  He is programmed to "defend the camp" (which you can see if you look at the game code script), which means that if you are not close to the camp, he will not try to fight you.

Kill him off, however, and his troops are "on their own," which means that they will pursue and attack you if you get close to them.  When that happens, the name above their status indicator will disappear (it will take several seconds for that to occur) and they will become much more difficult to deal with, as they will be scripted to "seek and destroy" any enemy that is close to them, which, of course, means you.  So, they will follow you wherever you go, until they (or you!) are dead.
 
You want to live, so don't attack their leader, the guy with with a first and last name.  Save him for last!  Instead, approach the camp but do not enter, wait for the squad to come out after you, back off a little, and then attack them in the back as they retreat back into the camp (to follow their commander.)  Rinse and repeat.  Do not enter the camp, not yet at least.  When the 5-man squad is dead, then enter the camp.  It's yours for a few seconds, until the next 3-man English squad of infantrymen "sees" you.  Let them retake the camp to get the extra dialogue and finish them off, as before, soldiers first, then their captain.  Go slow, and if you get into trouble (more probable than not on the VH setting), hit Shift-2 (releasing Jean) and retreat toward Jean (him), otherwise, save him for later.
 
After conquering the camp ("de la belle ombre"?!), get the goodies, but do not get too close to the small "lookout" tower.  If you do, you will attract the next English squad further afoot.  Instead, do some housekeeping.  Hit F1 and then move your Level-1 bow to inventory.  (You will never fight with that bow.)  Click Jean's icon and transfer his Level-2 bow, the "Rapid Fire bow," to your arsenal, along with his sole enhancer (the Black Star Opal) and arrows.  Explore the two tents even though there is nothing in them, and be sure to check out the upper sidepaths to the camp's north and south, busting open the crates; note the English squad which is visible in your "fog of war" on the camp's upper south path, as you hug the wall.  They "sense" you and are ready for some action!
 
Time to bring Jean into action, but first, auto-heal as necessary.  We need to conserve food, as such is in a very *limited* supply.  When you are healed-up, hit Shift-2.  It will not take long; go down the path to meet your first archer who is part of a 3-man English squad of another two infantrymen, who are commanded by an infantryman.  Hit 'Z' and take him out.  Archers move fast but they will stand completely still when they are about to fire, and if you are moving, they will always first fire where you were and not where you are going; in other words, no "leading" shots.  Keep this in mind.
 
Kill the archer (who may drop some explosive arrows -- whew!), and then help Jean.  Always fight next to him, and use the 2-on-1 strategy.  Ideally, both of you should attack the same English soldier, you from behind and him from the front.  When you do this, the English soldier will be helpless and will fall quickly.  Other English soldiers usually employ a "wait and see" approach and are slow to enter the fray.  Rinse and repeat for each one.  Conserve your arrows for now; you will need them for later.  Note the "blue dots" to your south; some of your future men are waiting for you, which will comprise your first (but small) army!  Have a nice look around at the terrain and other features; we won't be coming back to this area ever again after Mission 1 is completed, but return as necessary to "pass the time" while auto-healing.
 
Place Jean in a hold status -- Shift-2.  We need him on the hill.  Continue to your next way-point, a flashing 'X' on the map.  An 3-man English squad consisting of 1 archer and two infantrymen, who are commanded by an infantryman, will be to your right with an identical 3-man squad to your left.  Play "peek-a-boo" with the guys on the right, and lead them back to Jean; it is likely that the two infantrymen to your left will also follow, so it will be 4 versus 2.  At this point, you will never fight alone "sword-to-sword" again (except for bosses, if you wish), unless you are using arrows.  Same as before -- Jean goes first, with you right behind.  Straddle each enemy, attack, and cover your back.  Pass Jean a loaf if he starts to get into trouble, but watch your upgrade indicator.  When you "level up," your health is fully restored.  (Remember what I said about compound interest?)
 
After finishing off the two (or four) infantrymen, go back to the little cove on the right and take care of the remaining archer.  By this time, the flashing 'X' has moved on to your next objective.  Lead Jean into the cove (preferably, having him kill the archer) and place him in a hold status.  Leave the cove and head south to the other side but do NOT approach the bridge.  Another cove and another pair of infantrymen. assuming, of course that you did not kill them a moment earlier.  As before, lead them back to Jean (in the cove to the north of the path) and finish them off.  Go get the remaining archer but leave Jean in his hold status.  You will likely level-up at this point, so increase your "Hit Points."
 
Off in the distance is a bridge, but up a short incline is a sole infantryman and a archer, who are both members of a squad whom you will soon encounter.  If you go up the incline, the infantryman is scripted to run down the path and rejoin his squad who is on the bridge.  Try not to let him do this; instead, block his path, and finish him off.  If you fail, no big deal; you'll get him later, but at least hit him a few times.  (The English and Burgundians, unlike you, do not "auto-heal" during the early missions, so every hit counts.)  Go up and finish off the archer who is up on the incline.  Go back down.  Now it is time to approach the bridge.
 
Once again, it's the "peek-a-boo" strategy.  Approach the bridge without crossing it and you will get some dialogue warning you about archers, both members of the squad on the bridge.  (Note the flashing 'X' has, once again, moved.)  In this case, the sole archer is easy to dodge along with his pal in the lookout tower (both will likely be firing at you.)  Attract the 7-man mixed squad of 4 English infantrymen (one of whom you may already killed) and 3 archers (ditto), who are commanded by an infantryman, and lead them back to Jean, releasing him from his hold status as you climb the hill.  (Be sure to take "pot shots" at them along the way!)  In this skirmish, it does not matter whom you kill first, the squad leader or his men.  Let Jean go first, quickly cover his back, and divide and conquer.  Rinse and repeat.  Just stay together.
 
If you have both taken some damage, stay put for a bit to auto-heal.  Either way, put Jean in a hold status, and when healthy, approach the bridge.  Take out the now leaderless archer with your Level 2 bow and release Jean from his hold status.  Let him finish off the other now leaderless archer in the lookout tower.  Another 3-man English squad of infantry awaits further along the path.  Same "peek-a-boo" strategy as before -- Jean, then you, divide and kill.  Rest as necessary and try to conserve your food.
 
Put Jean in a hold status and do not approach the French soldiers whom you can see in the distance.  Instead, return to the bridge for a quick view.  On your right side will be a beautiful waterfall, which you will encounter throughout the game.  On your left is a nice lake which you will not see again (note the Void in the distance, which you will be able to see throughout the game!), for this will be the last time that you will ever be north of Orleans.  (So, do some sight-seeing in z-mode.)  Go back to where you started, leaving Jean where he is.  Explore looking for items that the dead English may have dropped.  It's "treasure hunting" time.  Be sure to return to the lookout tower at the first camp to collect the arrows in a crate.
 
When done, return to Jean, taking your time to allow both of your health bars to max out.  Release him, approach the French soldiers and enjoy the cutscene.  The archer is carrying a message from Alençon.  You will never get to read it unless the archer carrying it is killed, in which case you can pick-it up and read it, but you will lose an objective, so we do not want to do that.  If you want to read the message, you can find it here:
 
"C:\Program Files\Enlight\Joan of Arc\item_des\flyletter01.txt"
 
Basically, the Duke will be arriving a little late.  (The developers changed the game's storyline a few times, as you can see if you look at the game code script.)
 
Now you have two men to assist you, your first small army!  Let's keep them alive, so transfer all your food to your troop inventory, as well as Jean's low supply, leaving him with one small bread, just in case he needs to auto-heal.  Keep a good watch on your troop's inventory; they're your first priority on this mission!
 
Creep eastward and you will almost immediately encounter a "mixed" 4-man English squad of 3 infantrymen with a lone archer, who are commanded by an infantryman.  After finishing them off, auto-heal (your men, especially) and then continue down the path (don't forgot the arrows in the 2 crates to your left!) ignoring the long path to your right for now, until Jean senses the 4-man squad of English infantry ahead in the shallow alcove to your right.  (An archer from the longer path to the south may come down to take "pot shots" at Jean.)  When Jean attacks (if he does), follow him, providing quick cover but retreat almost immediately to the path, as another 3-man English infantry squad further down will likely attack your men from the rear.  Assist them; Jean is on his own -- pass him a bun if he needs it.

Another 3-man squad of English infantry are in another small alcove to the left; finish them if you and Jean are in good health, otherwise, wait a little, returning to the starting point if necessary to auto-heal.  (Your commanders will not "bug you" if you keep moving, even if such is in the wrong direction!)  Be sure to enter both coves to smash crates, one of which (the one to the north) will be empty.
 
Take out your bow (hit 'Z') and head back to the longer sidepath that you passed.  Run up the path in first-person mode; you'll soon encounter a 5-man English squad of 3 archers and 2 infantrymen, who are commanded by an archer.  Kill the archers at the end of the path with your bow, while taking a few shots at the approaching infantrymen.  Get the goody in the crate, an apple, and ignore the archers across the main path (who will be shooting at you), and, especially, the English squad on the path below you (as you will lose a cutscene in you attack them.)  Instead, quickly retreat back down the path; don't worry, everyone will follow you, eventually.
 
Rest, auto-heal, pick up goodies, and go around the main path a short way until you see the other sidepath.  Start up the path, then hit 'Z', and lookup at the trees to your left.  The gully where you started out is just beyond the hill.  Continue in Z-mode up the path, taking a few potshots at the approaching infantrymen.  As before, you'll encounter a 5-man English squad of 3 archers and 2 infantrymen, who are commanded by an archer.  Kill the archers; one (the commander) will drop a Level 2 sword, the "Flamberge," so pick that up.  Once again, do not attack the English squad below you.
 
Go way back to the first sidepath, but do not let your archer go all the way to the top.  (He may fire on the English troops further down the path.)  Quickly run as fast you can back down the path "hugging" the "right wall"; doing so will cause the archer to get stuck, an AI bug.  (It may take several attempts to be successful.)  Leave the archer, and with Jean and your sole infantryman, approach the next English unit, a 4-man squad of infantrymen.

You will get a cutscene; after that, switch to Z-mode (at least initially) and provide cover for Jean, and especially, your man.  Heal-up and then creep west-southwest to find a squad of three archers and another 4-man squad of English infantrymen in a cove to your left, but do *NOT* enter the cove.  (If you do, you will likely lose your man.)  Instead, keep right and remain in Z-mode; after engaging them, another 3-man English infantry squad will likely join the fray from just down the path, but with careful aiming, these skirmishes should be quite easy.

Just keep an eye on your arrow supply, and especially, your troop food supply, as your man will likely run ahead of you, and he will need food to stay alive!  Do not let the English approach Orleans, or they will kill the guards at the castle, ending the game, so keep to the north and east of them.  (This should NOT ever happen!)  After everyone is dead, be sure to explore a bit for any dropped goodies, especially, in the small cove to your left where you felled the archers.
 
Before continuing south along the curving path to Orleans, do some treasure hunting, but leave your stuck archer where he is.  As you approach the castle, Jean will state the obvious.  Continue south to the northern gates of Orleans for some extra dialogue.  (If conditions are right, you may be able to "see through" the not-so-solid walls of the castle!)  After hearing the gate guards' complaints (your stuck archer has the Duke's letter), head back to your archer, who will free himself after you get close to him.  Hurry back to Orleans for some additional dialogue, and the mission will end after your archer finally approaches the gate.  Enjoy the dialogue and the ending message, which, hopefully, you have corrected!  (See Appendix B.)  Before the level ends, level-up your and Jean's HPs and teach Joan the "Rush Attack" move.  Finally, move Jean's sword and all of his items to your inventory!
 
Mission 2 -- Imperial Counterattack

You and Joan start-off together just south of the center of Orleans.  The Bastard is ready to meet you, and off runs Jean.  Follow him until you round the corner, but do not meet up with Orleans.  Instead, visit the Shoppe and sell-off all your apples.  Talk to the owner twice to get the dialogue, but do NOT buy anything.  After this, go see the blacksmith and sell him your Level 1 sword (the "Warbrand") and Level 1 bow (if you have it), along with Jean's stuff.

After this, visit the 3 people in the city who are "willing" to talk to you (if you talk to them before the English attack; after that, they will ignore you, except for the Gate Guard who will go "missing."):  1) The Gate Guard standing at the western gate (who turns out to be a traitor); 2) A guy standing on the stairs at the north entrance to the west of the gate (note the missing buildings from when you first arrived and the now permanently-closed north gate/drawbridge); 3) An elderly gentleman standing near a spooky tree near the center of town has a short story to share with you.

After this, explore the city; pretend you are in a maze (you are) and simply "hug a wall" and work your way around.  Bust open all the crates and collect all the goodies, including, the crate behind the blacksmith's shop and the one in the barracks.  The western wall balcony is open (in Mission 5/6, all the wall balconies will be open), so go up there; collect a new sword for Jean (the Level-2 "Paladin") at the south end, some arrows above the drawbridge, and more arrows at the north end.  Do NOT recruit the archers; you will need them to sacrifice themselves when the English attack.  If you "push" each of them, respectively, to the north and south as far as they can go (will take about 10 minutes), they may both survive the English assault.

Once you're done collecting and gathering, create a special save file called "Blast."  More on that latter.  And, remember, "save often," with MULTIPLE save files, as one or more of your men can get "stuck" on textures!  An autosave feature is available (F5 -- default mappings), but in some cases, you may find that your army is missing a soldier who got stuck in a texture "way, way back" somewhere, and of course, it's the "game's fault" and not yours, but that may mean reloading a file a few skirmishes back as opposed to replaying a mission.  Go back to the blacksmith and buy Joan's medium-grade armor for 3,000.
 
Go see the Duke of Orleans; after the cutscene, talk to him again.  Get the crates behind him.  Make a final trip to the blacksmith to empty your coffers to buy arrows (no explosive ones!)  After visiting him (try pushing him into the small corner on the eastern side of his shop, if you can), have a good look at the western gate; it will soon open.  (If there are a lot of civilians there, just wait for them to leave; may take 5 or 10 minutes.)  Time for action; head south, then west to the Shoppe.  Prepare to retrace your steps, exactly, so hit TAB if you are not in the long-range map mode.  Talk to the Shoppe owner, then head back, QUICKLY, to the blacksmith due east.  However, before turning north, a cutscene will appear.  Time for your first boss encounter.
 
It's John la Pole.  His men (an exact count is difficult -- probably a 5-man squad of Burgundian infantry, and 5-man English squads of infantry, knights, archers and polemen) will storm the gate and you will soon find the map awash in a "sea of red."  The English are scripted to "seek and destroy," which means that they will attack whatever "enemy" is closest to them, including, the peasant mothers carrying newborns.

If you did not recruit the archers atop the western wall, the English will go up there to kill them, and at least one of them (probably, both) will perish if you did not push them all the way north or south; otherwise, they both should survive.  However, if they do perish, their deaths will provide you with the necessary time to reach the western gate.  (I have had the best success pushing the northernmost archer all the way north, and the southern one south just beyond the little "porch.)  Bypass all the English who are swarming in and stop just before the gate.  Do NOT close the gate, in spite of the fact that you will receive two messages (one from the Duke of Orleans) to do so.  Don't worry about John; he will remain outside of Orleans and will not enter the city.
 
Switch to Jean (press '2') and then immediately press F1.  Time for some housekeeping.  Give Jean his new sword, and he now has 4 men with him; they will need food, lots of it, so fill-up Jean's "troop inventory" with loaves and buns only but leave some for yourself (Jean), and especially, for Joan (she will need those to auto-heal); give him back his bow, Black Star Opal, and arm him will all of the explosive arrows.  Jean will have positioned himself just east of the blacksmith, whose life you need to spare.  Only 18 citizens can die, and by this time, some already have (a "good" thing, as their deaths will slow the advance of the English into Orleans), but we want to keep the numbers low.  Hit F1 and then 'Z' for first-person.  It's time to help Joan.
 
She will be completely surrounded by English.  Rush toward her firing explosive arrows.  Kill anyone who is nearing the blacksmith, and do not let anyone "behind" you.  By this time, the English will be coming down the western wall, mostly, on the south side of the wall.  Engage them there while Joan is fighting the others at the gate.  Don't worry about her health too much; she will auto-heal and her new armor will help protect her.  Still, keep an eye on her inventory by pressing F1 and make sure that she has buns/loaves to eat.
 
A few of your men will likely die; hopefully, at least 1 will survive (if you are lucky, all will.)  Better you than them, however, so make sure that you and Joan have food at all times.  Fight the English on the stairs and keep an eye on Joan.  Quickly exhaust ALL of your explosive arrows but do so judiciously.  After that, switch to regular arrows and provide cover for your men and Joan.  When the English diminish to 10 or so men, switch to your sword and finish them off.

Switch back to Joan, IMMEDIATELY put Jean into a HOLD status, have her take command of Jean's men (but wait to recruit any of the surviving archers atop the western wall, but see below), move her and her men over to the blacksmith, and VERIFY that Joan has 4 men under her command!  Switch back to Jean and place Joan in a "hold" status (Shift-1).  Time to fight John.  Before doing that, however, pick up the Level 1 Amulet of our Lord which should be near the gate.
 
Don't get close to him, the number #1 rule, or the three men under his command, which consists of one English knight, one Burgundian infantryman, and one English poleman.  (He *WILL* kill you, if you do!!!)  Instead, switch to 'Z-mode' (and, do NOT close the gate!) when going out to meet him.  Before fighting him and his guard, run up to the wooden gate that is preventing you for going any further to get some dialogue -- "Your duties beckon..." (duh!).  (If you do not do this before defeating John, you won't get the dialogue.)  Now, run back and forth from north to south just outside the western moat, firing at John and his men; switch directions when John falls down and STAY AWAY from him and his boys.

Don't worry about John going inside; he won't, unless you "lead" him inside, which would be really bad.  Firing round after round and without getting close to John, take him down (note that if one or both of the archers atop the western wall survived, they will be firing also -- make sure that you are the one who gets "the kill," else, you'll lose the EXP points; to do this, just keep you, and hence, John moving); he will quit, only to return with his brother William (and will use the exact same dialogue when you defeat him a second time.)  John will drop a Level 1 Warrior of Infinity (for strength) charm, so pick that up before heading back into Orleans.
 
Do NOT switch to Joan.  Instead, head back into the city WITHOUT closing the gate, in spite of the dialogue.  Go see the blacksmith and shoppe owner for some additional dialogue (they won't sell you anything, as they are too afraid to), and if you did not get it already, pick up an Amulet of our Lord charm (for defense) which an English soldier drooped (just in case it wasn't near the gate; check near the Bastard, if the English made it to him), food, gold, and arrows that the other dead English have left you.

Now, close the gate; do NOT switch to Joan, in spite of what the Duke of Orleans says.  If you do, the game will put Jean into the "defend the castle" mode, which means that it will be difficult (and, a headache) to get him to fight with you on the next objective.  Even though Orleans wishes to see Joan, we'll be sending Jean instead, but FIRST visit the blacksmith (again), who will give you twenty explosive arrows as a gift, and then the shoppe owner, who will give you a Level 1 Quartz Crystal, along with two chickens, two fish and two apples.
 
After meeting with the Duke of Orleans, you will have two towns (de Bourges & de Blois) to clear to the west, which you will have to clear again in Mission 6.  You can move Joan to just outside the moat; your dialogue with Orleans will show her from above, which you can repeat as much as you want.  (The game's "time limits" were removed.)  Go meet up with Joan and reassign the troops back to you, Jean and recruit any of the surviving archers atop the western wall.  Verify that you (Jean) have the L1 Quartz Crystal, the L1 Amulet of our Lord and the L1 Warrior of Infinity, which should be the case; give Joan the L2 Rapid-fire bow and Black Star Opal.  Switch to her and move outside (if you are not already there.)  Close the gate.  Before venturing any father, grab Orleans' L1 bow (but *NOT* his sword!); he'll never use it and we need the cash!
 
It's possible at this point to run around the countryside "attracting" the attention of the English and lead them back to Orleans, close the gate, and then hack them to death.  We may be doing this later, as it is sometimes unavoidable; however, for now, we are going to do a simple variant:
 
1)  Position Jean and his men in a safe spot with Jean in a Hold status.  (You do not need to always put Jean in a Hold status in Mission 2, as he is not in "follow mode," as he was in Mission 1, but you will need to do so in Missions 3 & 4, but not after that.  But, still, it's a good idea, in that you can keep track of "who's holding" and "who's not.")
 
2)  You, Joan, go and find some English, not too many.  Lead them back to Jean and his squad, where you annihilate them.

3)  Check Jean's troop inventory and verify that it is well-stocked.

4)  Heal-up as necessary.
 
5)  Rinse and repeat.
 
You can do the above for the WHOLE game, and it is VERY important that you do!!!  I will refer to this as "SP."  To keep things a little simple at least until Mission 7, I will continue to refer to the light English infantry as simply "English infantry" and the heavy English infantry as "knights."  Ditto for the Burgundians; you won't encounter any of their heavy infantrymen (aka, "knights") until Mission 7.  You'll encounter explosive archers in Mission 6 and Burgundian archers in Mission 4; as such, I will refer to English archers as simply "archers."
 
Now that you are "out and about," eliminate the English, a 3-man squad of infantrymen just to your west followed by a larger 6-man squad of knights behind them to the northwest and a 3-man squad of knights to the north, all of whom are north of the first town (de Bourges); after defeating each squad individually (they'll come at you "1-by-1"), explore a bit farther north alone as Joan hugging the "right wall."  (There's nothing up there.)  Return to Jean hugging the "left wall" and then go into a small cove which is directly northeast of de Bourges; you'll attract a 3-man squad of Burgundian infantrymen.  Lead them back to Jean, whom you should keep in the "bottleneck" just northeast of the small cove.  As I have said before, don't let yourself get surrounded, and NEVER use explosive arrows (you'll need them for later) unless I explicitly say to do so.

After defeating the infantrymen, head into the town hugging the "left wall."  You'll soon attract a 3-man squad of English infantrymen followed by another 3-man squad of Burgundian infantry.  After leading them back to Jean for their destruction, two 2-man archer squads will remain, one on the east side and the other on the west side of town.  When fighting the archers, it's "fire with fire," so do that throughout the game, unless you are close to them.  It's best not too get close to them, as they will start running around.  Instead, keep moving, pause, and then sniper them from a distance.  Rinse and repeat.

After defeating the archers, the town will be yours (at least until Mission 6)!  After conquering de Bourges, get the goodies in the crates but don't miss the ones on the south side of the town's two buildings.  pick up the Level 1 Seal of the Living God, which is in the treasure chest, and give it to Jean, who should now have the L1 Quartz Crystal, the L1 Warrior of Infinity, the L1 Seal of the Living God, and the L1 Amulet of our Lord, in that order (from "left to right.")  Explore a bit to pick up dropped gold, food, and arrows.

Go north of de Bourges as Joan, switching back and forth with Jean, who you want to position behind you at all times.  A 5-man squad of archers are in the small wooded area to the west of de Bourges.  Approaching them will trigger an assault by a 5-man squad of English infantrymen, so park Jean just north of de Bourges.  Lead them back to him for their destruction, and then go and sniper the archers, one by one, who will likely follow you back to Jean anyway.  Move Jean forward and go west until you encounter a 3-man group of Englishmen infantry followed by another 3-man group of Burgundian infantry.  As before, lead them back to Jean.  Keep him parked in the "small forest" where the group of archers were located.  If you hug the forest's "western wall," you'll see a bunch of enemies who are waiting for you.

Watch the map, but it's inaccurate, which means that there is a spot midway at the "Y-intersection" between the two towns that is accessible, a little outlet to the north of the main path.  We'll explore that later.  Keep east to ignore the 3-man squads of infantry and archers to the west for now; instead, focus on the 3-man squad of English knights who will be attacking from the south.  Lead them back to Jean, and after snipering the 3-man squad of archers who are just to the south of the "Y-intersection," attract the 3-man English infantry squad to the west (if they have already not attacked you), leading them back to Jean.  A 6-man squad of English infantrymen are just south of the archers; rinse and repeat.  (Watch your health, this will be a nasty skirmish.)  Depending on where you position yourself, the above squads may attack you in somewhat different order.

After you're doing killing, reposition Jean on the shallow incline to the east of the "Y-intersection."  After finishing-off another 3-man group of archers further south, attract the 6-man squad of English infantrymen to the south of the trees and lead them back to their doom.  (Another nasty skirmish.)  Continue south to sniper yet another 3-man squad of archers to the row of trees (which are "hiding" the castle Meung) with some goodies a little to the west.  Be sure to explore; it's very important.  Enemies, once dead, do not come back and new ones do not appear, so take your time.

Return north to the "Y-intersection" and sniper the 4-man squad of archers who are standing along the path to the west.  Explore that "hidden" area just north of the "Y-intersection" and then move Jean northwest along the path leading to de Blois SLOWLY, but leave Joan at the bottom of the hill.  As you approach a small side hill to your right, have Jean collect the goodies, but keep Joan SOUTH of that point.  (If you do not, she will run-up the hill DURING the cutscene.)  Go into z-mode and have a "look up" at the town.  Have Jean move forward north until you get the cutscene; enjoy the dialogue -- the English are coming back, this time with cannons.  After triggering the cutscene (Orleans' ears are amazing!) "retreat" south back to Joan.

Alternate as Joan & Jean, inching your way forward up the path.  When you get to the spot where the crates were, switch to Joan and have her go up the path beyond that point.  After switching back to Jean, she should "take off" on her own (however, if Jean should "take off" instead, then, you, Joan, follow him!), so quickly run after her and provide support for her with your L2 bow (hit F1 to transfer it from her to you!), keeping a good eye on her health.  After the Burgundian infantry engage you, switch to your sword and fight as Jean!

After the skirmish with the two 3-man squads of Burgundian infantry at the main entrance to the town, eliminate the two 2-man squads of archers who are straddling the entrance to the town and then finish-off the 3-man squad of knights and the 3-man squad of archers who are at the south side.  Once the town has been conquered, enjoy the dialogue from the Duke of Orleans, but in the meantime, collect the goodies, explore behind the homes to the west, and get a new charm, a Level 1 Bloodstone.  Give that to Joan.  Go into z-mode to have a "look down" where you were before.  If you like, you can position Joan along the path down below and switch commanders to see each other!  Go north into the small wooded area to the right of the path; there's nothing up there but we'll be coming back to this area in Mission 6.

Orleans wants you back; the English are coming (not really, it's all scripted!)  Switch to Joan and head out of de Blois but go north along the path until you reach some trees.  After that, head back to Orleans but explore the whole area for food, gold, and arrows.  Leave Jean in the town; he'll be completely safe there.  Go talk to Orleans; he'll give you a Level 1 Tiger's Eye gem, which will be inferior to the L1 Quartz Crystal which the shoppe owner gave you.  Time for Assault #2.  Eight archers are moving up to the western wall balcony; 4 Captains each with 1 man for a total of 8 archers.  We want to save all of them.  Position Joan in front of the gate and have her close it for some additional dialogue.  Now switch back to Jean and bring him back.  When he reaches the gate, open it but do NOT close it!  (If you do, the English will appear "out of thin air" and attack.)
 
Send Jean up the stairs.  Have him "push" (literally) on each of the eight archers, especially, the four French captains who are at the edge of the wall, moving each of them as far back as possible.  (You could even push them down the stairs, if you wish!  Better yet, push all 8 archers into the main structure above the gate so that their backs are against the eastern wall.)  As long as "their backs" are at the edge of the inner wall (don't worry, they, like you, can't "fall off"!), they should be out of range of the English archers, but they will still be in the "firing zone" even if they are in the middle structure.  Just in case, however, we'll be taking some additional steps to protect them.  If Gene has 5 or less men under his command, have him recruit the 4 archers.

There are 3 chambers on the western wall -- one directly above the drawbridge, one adjacent and north of it, another south.  Send Jean into the south one; of the two windows, pick the one facing northwest and have him stand there looking out.  Make sure Jean has the L2 bow, explosive arrows as his ammo (just right of the bow in his inventory, of course!), and the Black Star Opal.

Switch to Joan; have her go to the Shoppe to sell off all of your apples (Jean's too, of course), and then have her to the blacksmith to buy as many REGULAR arrows as she can and sell Jean's Level 1 "Sword of Knights" sword and Orleans L1 bow.  Do NOT sell Orleans' sword, as the game will "remember" this transaction, which means that Orleans will fight without a weapon until the end of the game.  (He'll still fight, but just not as well.)  Clear all of the civilians off of the balcony and make sure that none have wandered out of the castle!  (Should not happen, but it could!)

Create a save file called "Gate," which can reload after the end of the game to get the dialogue from Orleans when the English cannons blast down the gate.  (You'll also get a "bird's eye" view of cannon balls coming right at you!  You can also complete Mission 2 again, if you wish; try to keep John & William outside of Orleans, if you can, and keep Jean and Orleans' main and troop inventories well-stocked and use ALL of your explosive arrows!!)  Once done, have her return to the western gate and close it.  Time for Battle #2.  (Note that at this point you cannot buy any more arrows until Mission 4, as the blacksmith will not sell you any more after the second battle has begun.  He will be too "afraid" to do so.)
 
John appears again, this time with brother William, three cannons, and two 4-man squads of archers flanking the cannons with a 4-man squad of knights behind the northernmost cannons; William and John are both commanding 3 men each -- 1 poleman and 2 knights.  Hit '2' as soon as Joan has closed the gate and then hit 'Z'.  The cannons will start firing but do NOT attack them.  (Don't worry about the gate; it will hold for at least 30 seconds.)  Instead, fire TWO QUICK volleys at the archers who are NORTH of the cannons (if you do not do this, the French archers to your north along the wall could be killed), and then SEVERAL volleys at the three cannons, ONE for each.  (If you've pushed all of the archers into the main structure, just fire at the cannons until they are first disabled, and using regular arrows, kill-off the archers.)  Finally, fire a volley at the archers who are south of the cannons.

Repeat, going NORTH to SOUTH, archers followed by cannons.  Try to "aim low," but make sure that you reticle is green.  Switch to your short-range map and keep a close eye on your eight archers; if you see any "red splotches," attack any archers who are firing at them!  (If you've moved the archers as I have suggested, they will all easily survive.)  Be quick, as the gate will only hold for 30 or so seconds!

Do NOT destroy the cannons, at least all of them.  (You are wasting explosive arrows, if you do, which you will DESPERATELY NEED here very soon!  On the other hand, the animation of their destruction is cool, so don't worry if you happen to take one out.)  Instead, all that you need to do to disable the cannons is to kill one of the two soldiers (the guy holding the flaming torch) who are manning the cannon, after which, they will stop firing.  When the NORTH archers are dead and the cannons are disabled, finish-off, using REGULAR arrows, the archers who are to the SOUTH of the cannons, who will have been firing at you!  Fire in SEMI-RAPID succession; aim, then fire; don't wait until your arrow reaches its target.  You will likely have to move around a bit, as the walls of the castle may "absorb" your arrows.  Feel free to switch to the southwest window, if necessary.
 
If all goes well, all eight of your archers atop the wall will be alive and will continue firing at the English.  Switch to Joan.  Some English may be crowding at the gate (I guess that they "have their orders" or at least trying to avoid the archers), so kill them, but do NOT open the gate!!!  If they are under the wall, take the bow from Jean and use REGULAR arrows (the explosive ones will destroy the gate) to kill them, IF, you cannot reach them using your sword; otherwise, use that and watch your EXP points rise!

It's a bit tricky shooting through a gate; sometimes arrows will get "absorbed," so you may have to move around a bit.  Once you shoot an Englishman with an arrow, he will come-up to the gate, where you can kill him with your sword.  If John and/or William would run-up to the gate, try going up onto the western wall balcony until they both (or, at least one of them) retreat away from the gate.  (If you kill both of them, the mission will end.)  As long as no one is standing at the gate, it is safe to open it and run out, closing it quickly behind you.  Save your game.  If both John & William come-up to the gate, finish one of them off (he'll retreat) and kill all of their men.  After that, pelt which one of them remains until he falls down and quickly open the gate, run out and close out.
 
Assuming that you are able to clear the area around the gate without felling both John and William, open the gate, run out, and then close it.  (Press "R," wait for it to open, run through, and then press "R" again.)  Orleans will be upset but that's okay.  A horde of English (around 40 men, consisting of two 5-man squads of polemen, two 5-man squads of knights, and two 5-man squads of Burgundian infantry; another 5-man of polemen and 5-man squad of Burgundian infantry will appear "out of thin air" in front of the cannons) will appear just west of the city and will storm the castle, so run QUICKLY across the drawbridge, using a few explosive arrows if necessary, to get through the crowd.  Fighting all of these English 1-on-1 outside of the castle will be difficult, but with your new armor, increased health, and large supply of arrows, you should be okay.

As before, just stay FAR away John, and now, William.  Run "north and south" just west of the moat, having the archers atop the wall wound the English to where they are nearly dead; do your best to kill them yourself so that you can get the EP points.  Plan on using your remaining explosive arrows but do so judiciously.  Once the English foot soldiers are dead, finish-off John & William with regular arrows.  Be sure to let the archers atop the wall help-out; unlike you, they have unlimited ammo.  Just be sure that you are the one who kills John and William, so focus your fire on their troops first, and then them.  When their health gets low, lead them away from the castle and out of range of the archers who are atop the wall.
 
If the above strategy does not work for you and/or you end-up dying, reload your game, and instead of running out after you open the gate, immediately close it, and then hack the English soldiers to death from inside the gate who coalesce at it, which you have already been forced to do anyway.  It might not be chivalric, but it's the difference between succeeding at the game and failing and the game's AI, not matter how "you slice it," is somewhat poor.  You can also bring Jean down to increase his experience points, but just keep an eye on how many EPs you are getting for each kill.

John and/or William may appear near the gate.  If they do, then you can finish them off.  If not, move Jean back up on the wall (he will rush out if you open the gate), then open the gate up and go out (close the gate, of course!) and defeat John and/or William with your standard arrows once most of the English are gone.  Be sure to "time" things, in that you need to keep John or William alive long enough to pick up all the goodies.

William will drop a sword, a Level 3 "Badelaire," once he goes down, so be sure to pick that up, also, along with the Level 1 crossbow and Level 1 Citrine Spiral Pendant.  You can store the crossbow with Orleans if you wish to conserve inventory space.
 
Mission 3 -- Assault at Twilight
 
You and Jean start-out somewhere "west" of Orleans.  Where I do not know, except that you are just south of the Loire.  (The maps do not make sense, sorry.)  You have two camps to clean-up.  The developers, it appears, as does Mr. Tung, assume that you will want to capture the small camp first ("Camp du pied fragile").  Not today, and for good reason -- we're going after the "big" one first ("Camp du beau vallon" -- it's no so big.)  Note that my description of enemies will, from this point forward, be more general; with your increased health, you should be in "good shape" for the rest of the game!
 
First some housekeeping.  Go east to get the quick dialogue -- "Your duties beckon."  Assign all of your men to Jean; give Joan her new sword.  As before, SP, which means keeping your troop inventories full!  (We'll need all of your men to live.)  After getting rid of the initial two 2-man squad of archers (whom you should sniper) and 3-man squad of infantry (who you should lead back to Jean), head up a small sidepath just north of the trail, finishing off the 4-man squad of 2 archers and 2 infantrymen, who are commanded by an archer; don't forget to shoot (or at least, injure, if you want to see their names) the archers, part of an identical 4-man squad, on the adjoining path across the shallow gully, which you can access further along to the west.
 
Work your way west; Joan first, then Jean with the troops; he will be in "follow" mode, so press Shift-2 as needed to keep him behind you at all times.  Keep on the "south side" of the western path only.  You'll encounter a 3-man squad of archers, and after finishing them off, clean-out the second sidepath to the north of the path with the 4-man squad of 2 archers and 2 infantrymen whom you saw across "the gap."

When you attack them, you'll attract the attention of one or two leaderless infantryman further west, and maybe another 3-man squad of archers directly south of you.  After eliminating these guys, backtrack slightly to the east, and after coming back to the stone cross, park Jean.  Venture west alone and you will immediately encounter that 3-man squad of archers (if they haven't already attacked you) and then a 5-man squad of infantrymen, who you should lead them back to Jean for "the kill'n."

Avoid the small camp ("Camp du pied fragile") that you will soon encounter and do *not* go north to the river.  (Don't worry about the camp; the English will not come-out, but a couple of their archers will take "pot shots" at you, so keep moving.)  You will come to an execution camp (don't worry, the poor guy will not be executed until you open the gate), but before that, you will encounter a 3-man squad of knights, and after leading them back to Jean, you'll encounter two 4-man squads of archers who are waiting in "ambush" for you.  Fight fire with fire; continue west to attack a 2-man squad of archers and then finish off a 4-man squad of knights who will join the fight (lead them back to Jean) and then go south (release Jean, of course) a little bit away from the small camp.  Off in the distance is the larger camp ("Camp du beau vallon").  That's our destination, but just not yet.

After finishing off the 3-man squad of Burgundian infantry JUST SOUTH of the execution camp (stop just north of the gully), ignore the remaining squads off in the distance, both south and west.  Note the winding path on the map just west of you -- it contains a special charm that you can pick up only once in the entire game (so far as I know) called the Holy Protection Ring.  Don't worry about it now; we'll be picking it up soon.  Instead, switch to Joan (whom you should have been fighting with) and have her go to the gate of the execution camp for some dialogue.  You don't have the key of course (it's northeast next to the river); no big deal, Jean will pick the lock, so switch to him after having Joan attempt to open the gate.
 
A cutscene will play; the poor man is going to be executed.  No "big deal" for him, but it is for you -- you need him, so (you, as Jean) run straight up to him without fighting anyone and press 'R'; another cutscene, and he's yours to command.  Finish off everyone in the camp (a 6-man squad of 4 archers and 2 infantry, who are commanded by an archer), hear La Hire's dialogue, get the camp goodies, and go back to where you started.  Make sure that you are playing as Joan, because La Hire will follow whomever talks to him first, so we want that commander to be Joan.  (Having Jean talk to him will make life more difficult for you, so please do not do that.)  Fit F5 for a quick save just prior to talking to La Hire, just in case some of the audio does not play.

Talk to La Hire (as Joan), give him ALL of Jean's charms, and then give Jean all of yours.  From "left to right," La Hire should have a L1 Quartz Crystal (for attack) gem, a L1 Warrior of Infinity (for strength), a L1 Bloodstone (for energy attacks), and a L1 Amulet of our Lord (for defense.)  Make sure that La Hire (or whichever general is weakest -- more on that later) has the Level 2 (or Level 3) charms.  More housekeeping -- move all the apples to La Hire, make sure that Jean and La Hire have plenty of food for themselves and their men, and that Jean has all the arrows and L2 bow.  La Hire will start-out with the "Spiked War Club," his Level-1 weapon which he will have throughout this mission.  Read La Hire's letter, as you won't have it in Mission 4 or beyond.
 
Head west and hug the south side of the path, picking-up dropped items.  Make sure that your map is in long-range mode.  Turn south (left) on the path leading to the large camp with Joan leading.  SP this time with Jean & La Hire in the rear.  If it is daylight and not raining, you can send an arrow at the guard who are in the camp with the Holy Protection Ring, a 5-man squad of 3 knights and 2 archers who are commanded by a knight.  These fellas will then come out and around the execution camp, attacking you from the rear.  Just switch to Z-mode and position your reticle so that it is green; a single arrow will do.

Slowly fight your way until you approach a steep incline with a large hill to your right.  You'll encounter a 3-man squad of knights, followed by a 5-man squad of infantry, and then a 3-man squad of infantry.  After defeating them, switch to La Hire, assign all of Jean's men to you (La Hire) so that you (he) is commanding 9 troops, with the remainder (two) assigned to Joan.  Verify that Joan & La Hire (especially) each have two columns of loaves & buns in their troop inventory; we want everyone to survive, so check after each and every skirmish.  Switch to Jean and put Joan and La Hire into a HOLD status.

Continue down the path as Jean and lead the 3-man squad of knights back to Joan & La Hire; a 5-man squad of archers will follow, whom you (Jean) should sniper.  Attack the knights with the others and then take out all of the archers, but keep Joan & La Hire further back in a HOLD status, avoiding any and all creep.  (If you let them come too close, they and their men will attack troops around the hill and you will suffer some casualties in this, your small army.)

Now you should be able to see the camp (du beau vallon) on your long-range map.  Move forward as Jean and lead the 6-man squad of Burgundian infantry back to Joan & La Hire (ignore the 3-man squad of English knights who are in the "defend the camp" mode; they may follow the Burgundians but they will quickly retreat), maintaining their hold status and avoiding creep, just in case.  (Press Shift-3 to put La Hire in a Hold status, if you have not remapped your keys and reposition him and Joan as necessary so that their position does not move forward.)  Now you should know why it was important to have La Hire follow Joan and not Jean.
 
As you approach the Y-intersection, switch to Z-mode and start running west toward the camp.  According Mr. Tung, the eastern gate of the camp will close before you reach it.  Not true.  Jean is fast, which is why you're commanding him.  You will likely see an English knight who is outside the camp in the front enter the camp.  Fire at him, if you can; doing so will help delay the gate from closing.  It should be trivial to get into the camp, but if you don't make it, turn around and go back to Joan & La Hire.  (It's no big deal if you don't.)

If you are successful, have Jean, IMMEDIATELY, turn right after entering the camp and climb up the nearest archer tower.  Kill the archer with your sword and then his 4 pals (who are members of a 11-man squad including 6 knights, who are commanded by a knight) with your L2 bow.  After that, climb back down and run over to the northwestern-most tower and climb that.  If you wish, you can leave the archer who is in the southeast tower alive for a moment, and you can sniper him from afar after climbing the northwestern-most tower.  Keep your health above 50%, as you'll be taking lots of fire!
 
The eastern gate to the camp may or may not have closed by this point.  Either way, it's no big deal.  We will open the gate later on, if it is closed or vice-a-versa (just for "kicks.")  With Jean on the northwest side of the camp, have him take-out some of the 3-man groups of 2-archers and a sole infantryman (who are commanded by an archer) down below.  Don't waste arrows (use no more than 20), however; you will have to aim your reticle ABOVE some of the archers to hit them.  Some of the archers will come to the camp to attack you.

If you are courageous, you can climb back down the tower, run around to grab the two charms that are in the camp, and then climb back up the tower, passing the new charms to Joan.  It's not necessary but do not leave the camp if you decide to do this.  (I recommend that you do not do this!)  Be sure to "aim high" when attacking archers from afar, as they will experience some "blow-back" when an arrow hits them; if you fire multiple arrows at them in succession (kind of cool) and are "on target," your last shot or two may end-up falling short, so if anything, "aim high."
 
Switch back to Joan.  Take her and La Hire (and Jean, if you didn't make it into the camp) west but only to the giant hill, finishing off the 3-man squad of knights you ignored earlier.  (You will likely be attacked by a 4-man squad of archers who are west of you, if they did not attack you with Jean.)  Fight you way around using SP, eliminating another 3-man squad of knights, and then head northeast on the adjoining path.  Go down the path to the sidepath on your right and then up to the hill (back west); finish-off the 5-man squad of 3 archers and 2 infantrymen, who are commanded by an archer.

After that, get a charm, a Level 2 Amulet of our Lord.  Give it to La Hire (and give yourself his) and then back-down you go.  If the eastern gate to Camp du beau vallon is closed (it should be, but in one instance, I had it get stuck open!), return to it to clear out the 2-man squad of knights and the two 3-man squads of polemen (and, the 4-man squad of archers, if they have not already attacked you), else, avoid it for now.  Note that some of these troops may have gone inside the camp, but that one or more of "Carpenters' men" may be stuck outside.  Borrow from Jean, if necessary, but Joan & La Hire should have all 4 of their "charm boxes" full.

Continue fighting northeastward using SP.  You'll encounter a 4-man squad of archers, a 3-man squad of Burgundian infantry, a 3-man squad of English infantry, a 2-man squad of archers, a 3-man squad of Burgundian infantry, a 3-man squad of archers, and finally, a 3-man squad of English infantry.  Before reaching the end of the path, take a right and go into the side camp, finishing off the three English knights and the two archers (if you have not already killed them.)  This is ABSOLUTELY IMPORTANT, because you need to pick up the Holy Protection Ring, your SOLE and ONLY opportunity in the WHOLE game!  Get it and give it to La Hire, replacing his L1 Bloodstone and pass that over to Joan.
 
Do NOT head east in the direction of the small camp ("Camp du pied fragile") and the execution camp.  Instead, finish off the enemies in the area (they should all be dead), and head out to the small boat.  Nothing to do here; it's all for show.  Up the third and final path this time in a northwesterly direction.  Go slow; you'll encounter multiple 3-man squads of English infantry, knights, English infantry, Burgundian infantry, and, finally, the last 3-man squad of Burgundian infantry who are just south of the upcoming archers.

When in range, get the bow from Jean, if you do not have already have it.  Finish off the archers that he did not take care of (two 3-man squads of 2 archers and 1 infantryman, who are commanded by an archer), and then, eliminate a 3-man squad of English infantry, a 2-man squad of archers to your left, an identical 2-man squad to your right, and behind them, a 4-man group of leaderless archers further up the hill next to the river (Loire) with a 3-man squad directly to their south.  Go slow, which means SP.  Stay to the right and check your troop inventory regularly and keep it filled.  All your men should survive (but, it's okay if some don't; reassign any of your men to La Hire, if the latter loses some.)  Don't worry too much about picking-up dropped items (except for food); Jean will be coming back to this area later on to scavenge.  Have a look up at Jean, if you wish, and vice-a-versa!

Keep going and stay to the right next to the Loire.  Take note of the 3-man English infantry squad who will run away from you; instead, attack the 4-man squad of knights.  Eventually, you will see a small town that is been destroyed with a message to that effect.  Run around the stone fence to the right and kill the 5-man squad of archers, putting them to the sword.  Some small skirmishes will take place with a 3-man squad of knights; no problem with SP.  Fight fire with fire and eliminate the 4-man squad of archers just to your south (who will be firing at you) staying as far NORTH and WEST as possible; a 4-man squad of Burgundian infantry, another 3-man squad of knights, and that 3-man squad of infantrymen (who earlier ran away from you) will join the fray.  Check your troop inventories and make sure that all your and La Hire's bread & buns are stored therein.

Before looping around to the south, return to the stone wall west of the town, positioning yourself WEST of the most western one.  Have a look across the Loire, if you wish; you can just make-out some trees on the island in the river.  When ready, continue south but stop almost immediately south of the stone walls to sniper the 4-man squad of archers who are north of the training camp, which will be reflected in the message which you are going to get.  To your southeast are another squad of 4 archers, and after snipering those, your men will likely attract the attention of one 3-man and one 5-man squad of knights, which will make for a nasty 12-on-9 skirmish.

Once the area to the north of the training camp is clear, work your way south.  The training camp has two entrances, and you'll be entering via its NORTH entrance.  Eliminate the 6-man squad of 2 infantrymen and 4 archers, who are commanded by an infantryman and the camp is yours; quickly exit out of the camp's east gate to finish-off a larger squad of knights (whom you will have likely fought earlier; if not, prepare for that "nasty skirmish") and a 4-man squad of archers.

Collect the goodies east of the camp and then return, cleaning-out the camp.  (As in Mission 2, more terrain is accessible just west of the camp than is indicated on your map.)  Park La Hire in the camp next to the wooden archery targets and put him in a HOLD status.  Switch to Jean and bring him down and have him run out of the WEST gate to the camp, leading a bunch of English (which will include the 3-man squad of polemen guarding the western gate) to their training camp, where you (Joan), La Hire, and your troops will be waiting.  Fight with Jean for this one, and then have him take command of Joan's men; be sure that his troop inventory has food.  Note that the English are in the defend-the-camp mode, which means that they will not follow you far beyond the boundaries of the camp.
 
Keep Jean and La Hire in the training camp, near the western end of it and in a HOLD status.  Run east with Joan to the large camp in little spurts of sorties.  Do NOT enter the camp.  Instead, hack away at the English who come to the western gate.  If any come out, lead them back to Jean & La Hire, and annihilate them there.  Do not let Jean & La Hire move forward; instead, reposition them after each battle, so that they remain within the training camp at all times near the practice targets and in a Hold status.  If the eastern gate to Camp du beau vallon is open, be sure to lead the English troops there back to Jean & La Hire, assuming, of course, that you have not already killed them.
 
Eventually, the English forces in the camp will dwindle.  Do NOT let all the English leave the camp!  If you do, Alexander la Pole will appear; we don't want that, not yet at least.  Instead, enter the camp and finish off the English one-by-one, but lead the LAST Englishman back to the tent on the hill, the one with the flags.  Kill him there NEXT to the tent (but position yourself directly SOUTH of the tent next to the flag!); a cutscene will appear with Alexander and you will be in the cutscene!  (We will do this several times throughout the game.)

In all, you should fight a 4-man squad of 2 knights and 2 infantry, who are commanded by a knight; a 9-man squad of 7 infantry and 2 knights who are commanded by an infantryman; a 3-man squad of infantry; a 6-man squad of knights, whose captain will drop a L1 Bloodstone; and finally, a 4-man squad of 2 knights and 2 infantrymen who are commanded by a knight, who you need to fell by the tent!  All of the squads will be in the "defend the camp" mode, which means that they will not venture too far beyond the western gate.  However, kill their squad leader and they will pursue you wherever you go!  But, once again, kill the remaining 4-man squad next to the tent!!
 
Time to fight Alexander.  He will be in the "defend the camp" mode.  Hopefully, you have followed my advice and have positioned Jean & La Hire "out of sight and out of mind" farthest WEST as you can in the training camp, both in a HOLD status.  Lead Alexander and his squad of 4 knights out of the camp but go NORTHWEST toward the destroyed town.  He will follow you out of the camp for a bit but then turn around to head back into the camp; eventually, 4 leaderless infantrymen and 4 leaderless knights will follow you wherever you go.  When he does this, shoot him in the back with arrows.  If he falls down, do a Q-attack and then back-off, quickly.  Rinse and Repeat.  A lone captain, a knight, will remain after defeating Alexander and his pals.  (Apparently, there was some "desertions," as the men whom he was commanding left him!)
 
When Alexander retreats, he will drop a Level 4 sword, the Crecy Broadsword, a powerful sword that you will use throughout Mission 4 until you conquer the Tourelles.  Pick it up and transfer your old sword to inventory.  Enter the camp with Jean and La Hire (press Shift-2 and Shift-3) and finish off all the English.  The camp is yours but not for long.  Open and close the western & eastern gates, just for kicks, but when you are done having fun, leave BOTH gates OPEN, but verify that there are no more English troops at the eastern gate.  Scour the camp and pick up all the goodies.

Send Jean out the WESTERN gate first to the town (have a last look at the islands in the middle of the Loire -- the northern shore is, once again, too far away to see!) and then to backtrack to get all the missed goodies and meet up with him at the EASTERN gate.  Jean should not be doing any fighting for this brief mission of his, which means taking the "middle path" back to the camp.  Take your time, especially if it is daylight, as objects will "glow" at night.  Some crates are in the burned town, so spend some time there scouring.  Jean should have 2 troops in his command, La Hire should have 9, and Joan should be alone.  For a quick breather, have Joan climb the camp's southern most tower, switch to z-mode and enjoy the very lovely view!  Pity that area of the map is inaccessible!!
 
After meeting up, it is now time to attack the other camp, but not yet.  If you do attack it and conquer it, the Mission will end, prematurely, and we don't want that.  Instead, take the path which is farthest to your right (south) and head back to where you started hugging the "right wall", over near the stone cross.  Do not attack the small camp, but explore the area (for the last time) for any goodies and then head over to the river along the farthest eastern curving path to the northwest and finish-off the 4-man English squad of infantry and any lone infantrymen guarding some supplies northeast toward the Loire.  Their commander will drop a key to the execution camp, which you no longer need, but pick it up anyway.  Grab the supplies near the water and park Jean & La Hire "in" the Loire and have a view of the forest on the other side.
 
Have Joan take command of Jean's men and switch to him (if you don't do this, you'll lose-out on EXP points!), and go out with the bow and attack the two 3-man squad of archers who are just west of the small camp ("Camp du pied fragile").  When he has done that, the following is very, very important -- Do NOT attack the camp.  Instead, as soon as the 3-man squad of knights begin attacking you, have them follow you back to the large camp ("Camp du beau vallon").

Take the first path, the one with the gully, which is east of the execution camp.  Lead all three of them into the large camp through the EASTERN gate but retreat quickly, closing the gate.  (The western gate should be open!!!)  The camp will "revert" to English control within 5 seconds and you will get an additional message to that effect; if you take too long to shut the gate, you will need to "reconquer" the camp -- rinse and repeat until you get things right.  Now, if you made the mistake of closing the WESTERN gate, it will be IMPOSSIBLE to finish the mission -- the English knights will be "trapped" in the camp and you will not be able to go in!!  (A software bug or a feature -- you decide!!  Probably, the former.)
 
Head back to Joan & La Hire, avoiding the small camp.  Leave them in a Hold status, but go finish off the archers to the west and then attack the small camp, with small sorties on the east side of the camp.  Swing around and attack from the south gate if you wish; the entire camp is guarded by a 15-man squad of 1 knight, 11 infantrymen and 3 archers who are commanded by the knight.  Do NOT kill all of the three archers in the camp and avoid going too far into it; if you do, you will likely take a bunch of damage.  If, by chance, any English start following you (they shouldn't until their leader, an English knight, is dead), lead them back to Joan & La Hire, but make sure that they remain by the river.  Eliminate all the ground forces in the camp; after that, return to Joan, taking command of your two men.  Switch to Joan and head into the camp with everyone in tow.

Let Jean and/or La Hire finish-off the remaining archer or two while you (Joan) head toward the south gate.  Once the camp is yours (which is why you should wait before finishing-off all the archers), an 3-man English squad of 2 knights and 1 infantryman, who are commanded by a knight, will spawn who will attack at the south gate.  A French captain will quickly appear, enter the camp, and position himself in front of the gate, so you need to be there at the vanguard to protect him.  Once the English have been defeated, place La Hire at the camp's east entrance and Jean at the southeast one with both of them standing just INSIDE of the camp's shallow mote; put them back into a Hold status.  It is *absolutely imperative* that La Hire and Jean's men are to their REARGUARD, which means that the latter are INSIDE the camp!
 
Out the front gate you go, but sure to close the gate!!  Head due WEST to the top of the hill (NOT in the direction of the large camp) toward the boat.  Promptly stop when reaching the top of the shallow hill and switch to Z-mode.  Make sure that you have the bow and are armed with explosive arrows.  You will notice a second French captain who has appeared on the long-range map; he is scripted to come to the small camp with some men, although, he will sometimes get stuck.  When you get close to them (not now, of course), you will automatically take command of their troops.  (A software bug or a feature?  You decide!)  Keep staring west and don't move.
 
After 3 minutes or so (who's counting?), you will see a large contingent (three 5-man squads of English infantry, knights and archers, and three 5-man squads of Burgundian infantrymen) of troops who will have appeared "ex ninlo" just south of the boat.  Here they come!!  Scripted to attack the small camp, they will go around the back side (well, most of them will) between the small camp and river (the Loire) and start attacking the camp.

As soon as you see them appear, start firing explosive arrows.  We want to either eliminate and/or damage as many of them as possible (the English, unlike you, will not "auto-heal" in the early missions, expect for the bosses, as you know), so as to preserve the life of the two French captains.  Try to fire your explosive arrows into groups of soldiers, and as they near, fire a volley at point-blank range, otherwise, you are wasting your ammo.
 
When ONE of the English troops passes you (don't wait for the rest of them), give chase; switch to regular arrows and start taking them out, one by one.  When you get to the camp, go INSIDE and join the fray, doing your best to guard the lives of your French captains, who should survive.  (Remember, the entire game is a failure if one of them doesn't!  As such, IMMEDIATELY head into the MIDDLE of the camp; let Jean & La Hire do the fighting outside!!)  Everyone should be fighting by this time at the two entrances (the south gate is already closed, right?!), and all your men should also survive, so keep your troop inventory and that of your two commanders well stocked.  After you retake the camp, a third French captain will appear, although, it will take some time (a minute or two) for this to occur; don't wait, go back to the shallow hill where you were before.
 
Here's comes "Cheesemonger!!!"  Watch as another, but much smaller, group of English soldiers appears "out of thin air."  This time you will be fighting "the Cheesemonger," a knight commanding one infantryman and another knight, who is no different from any other English squad commander.  It's downhill from this point, so finish him and his gang off, no explosive arrows needed.  By this time, the third and last French captain should be on his way to the camp or in it.  Run around for a bit and collect the goodies (open the treasure chest for a Tiger's Eye gem), close the gate to the execution camp, and then off you go on the northwestern-most pass back to the large camp; take one (or both) of the horses just for fun.  Take La Hire with you but leave Jean, but take his sword with you, along with his bread, buns, and arrows (but leave him all of his chicken, ham, fish, and charms)!!
 
Scour one last time for any missed goodies.  (IMPORTANT:  Make sure that Joan has NO arrows in her "range weapon" inventory slot, which is just right of her bow.)  After that, it's trivial taking the large camp -- again.  Finish off the 3 knights, and open the eastern gate (once again, for kicks, so let La Hire kill the knights, otherwise, you'll run out of time, but be sure to grab any dropped goodies.)  Switch to Jean, if you can, for a "quick goodbye" to your 3 loyal French captains -- you will not see them again.
 
Mission 4 -- Victory in the Tourelles
 
Do you have Jean's sword or does he have it??  If you followed my advice, then you have it.  (If you don't believe me, check!)  Oh well, this cutscene is not "live."  (Well, actually, it is, because Joan, and presumably, La Hire, can change their weapons; for La Hire, at least to the "none" category.)  You meet up with the Duke, finally; shortly thereafter, Jean gets captured (which you "trigger" as you move west and/or then south, but you can right now hit "Escape," then "Mission Brief," and then "Battleground" to see where Jean is.)

You start off just south of the Loire, as before in Mission 3.  It APPEARS that you are EAST of Orleans, but who knows.  (The maps do not line-up, but it's just a game!!)  The Loire must be a big river, because you can't see across it.  (Not.)  First, some housekeeping.  Assign everyone to La Hire, but leave yourself an infantryman (they are "least" on the totem pole pole here.)  Make sure that your troop inventories are full.  (You should have taken the bread & buns from Jean earlier.)  You have 30 additional explosive arrows, by the way, courtesy of the game developers, IF Joan had room for them in her inventory, otherwise, you've lost them.  (Just reload the end of Mission 3 if this should happen, and then listen to my advice!!)

In any case, head east; no "Your duty beckons..." message on this level, so head west.  You will come to a path to your left; off in the distance is a large hill with some English soldiers running back and forth.  Go south just a bit and there is a path to your right; that's the one we will be taking.  Go up the hill quickly; you will take some damage, but your HPs will be maxed-out, so you should be fine.  Just start hacking the archers (save your arrows for this one), and let La Hire and his boys finish things off.  Keep going west until your reach the end of the small camp with an annoying "Loading map...Map loaded." message.  (An SSD drive should help fix this!)  In all, you'll fell 8 archers -- a 6-man squad, along with one each in the two lookout towers, both leaderless.

Go east (your only route), and hug the north fence, while (of course) looking north.  Go slow in Z-mode, and you should see 5 Burgundian infantrymen through the trees, two (or three, or, if you use your green reticle, all five!) of whom you can hit with a single arrow, if you wish.  (They will run towards you, if you do this.)  Go eliminate them but do NOT go any further west.  (You will encounter William la Pole, if you do; we'll deal with him later.)  Go slow and let the 2 (or 3) Burgundian soldiers run to their fate.

Back you go to the big hill going south; if your (Joan's) infantryman gets stuck as you go up the hill, LEAVE him!!  Go slow, as a group, and when you encounter those running soldiers (a 5-man squad of 3 infantrymen and 2 macemen, who are commanded by an infantryman), Lord Talbot will deliver the news -- Jean's been captured.  You knew that already, of course, as you looked at the map.  (Jean was going south, not west.)

Fight your way up the hill, but do not kill both of the archers in the two towers with your bow.  Instead, after finishing off the leaderless groups of 3 macemen, 3 knights and 2 archers, climb one of the towers for a view, and after putting the archer "to the sword," shoot his pal and then continue south until you come to three leaderless crossbowmen, your first encounter with them.  Take them out using your bow and then turn right on the path (you'll be going west) ignoring the three archers and infantrymen to the south; take care of the leaderless group of three Burgundians, and then put La Hire into a Hold status.

Time for a little housekeeping -- load La Hire up with as much inventory as you can.  In the small camp to your west is a new weapon for La Hire, and you do not want him to be the one to pick it up (unless, you are playing as him, which you should NOT be doing.)  Instead, you (Joan) want to be the one who picks it up, so that you can get the "Armory" message.  If La Hire picks it up, you won't get that message.  Unless you have applied the fixes listed in the "Bug" section, note the fact that "cylinder" has been misspelled -- some tech was in a hurry.

Slowly descend to the camp (named "Camp de la petite coline" -- you can Google that one!), and when you are within "bow range," kill the archer ahead in the lookout.  (Don't waste your arrows on him, however, if you can't hit him -- use at most 3.)  Make sure that La Hire is parked midway down the path.  Use SP, and dispense with the English one or two squads at a time.  This will be your first "big battle" with your troops, so make sure that your troop inventory is well-stocked and keep a good eye on your health.  (La Hire's should already be full, right?)  Do not let yourself get surrounded, and "fight as a group," with you at the vanguard and with La Hire as a close second.  Descend into the camp, and finish-off the remaining archers.  Give La Hire his new weapon ("The Mauler," a L2 weapon), and put him back into a Hold status.

In all, you'll encounter about 25 troops; first off, a mixed 6-man squad of 4 macemen and 2 archers, who are commanded by a maceman; a 4-man squad of macemen, two 4-man squads of infantry, 2 archers in lookout towers, a 6-man squad of 4 knights and 2 archers, who are commanded by a knight.  It will be one of the commanding infantrymen who drops the Mauler.  Be sure to sniper the archers in the lookout towers, as they will give your men too much damage if you climb each tower to finish them off.  Finally, if your lone infantryman gets surrounded, he's "toast"; just left him be killed-off and don't waste all of your food trying to save him.  He's destined to die here soon anyway.

Time for treasure hunting.  Backtrack on the path that were just on for an important charm (the Tiger's Eye, which was dropped by an English macemen captain.)  Do NOT take the adjoining path to the southeast -- we'll do that much later, from the opposite direction.  Explore the camp for the goodies, which will include a L1 Amulet of our Lord in the treasure chest.  On this mission, the English tents are all empty.  Explore them anyway.  You can climb the camp's northwestern-most tower to sniper a couple of English archers who are down the path to the north if you wish.

La Hire should have 9 soldiers, and you should have 1 (unless he's already dead.)  Time to fight Alexander la Pole, again.  His camp is further down the path to the northwest.  It's possible that you can get your man "stuck" on something, which will sometimes happen when you start climbing the previous hill going south.  If wish to try this, assign yourself an archer from La Hire and assign him your infantryman, if that is who you have.  After this, go back to the giant hill where you started out and see if you can get the archer stuck, as in Mission 2.  If you fail, reassign your infantryman back to you.  Or, do nothing, but keep La Hire parked.  Remove all of your troop inventory of food; your infantryman is "going down" -- no sense in wasting good food on a lost cause.

Head northwest toward the next camp, Camp le fort, guarded by Alexander de la Pole whom you just defeated in the previous mission.  Take out the four 2-man leaderless groups of archers, "fight fire with fire." After fighting three leaderless knights, your lone infantryman should be dead -- "May he rest in peace."  (If not, take steps to ensure this!)  As you approach the camp, go very slow.  We don't want Alexander running out towards you, not yet at least!

On a side-note, it is possible to keep this lone infantryman alive, IF you have a good supply of food, but if you do this, don't waste too much food on him.  Keep your troop inventory empty and pass him "a bun or bread" as needed.  Remember, he's only worth "100 bucks"; on the other hand, this level has no barracks from which to get new recruits.  If your man lives, we'll be assigning him to the Duke here soon.

Take out the archer stationed in the lookout to the right, and then fire an arrow at the archer in the short lookout to the left.  He may come down to attack you; do NOT follow him.  Doing so will trigger an onslaught of English in the camp.  Instead, approach the camp slowly and look for Alexander, who should be to your right.  IF you see him, fire arrows at him over and over, as well as the lone archer who will continue to shoot at you, so focus "your fire" on him first.  Just be sure not to hit any of the other Englishmen who are "standing around," apparently oblivious to the fact that a Frenchmen (or, in your case, Frenchwoman) is attacking them, so switch to your short-range map to get "your bearings" on Alexander.

If you kill Alexander, you will lose a cutscene, so don't do that.  Instead, watch his health bar, and when it gets very low (after a few auto-heals), edge forward for the cutscene.  A good heuristic is to wait until Alexander's health bar is lower than the "one-quarter" mark after two auto-heals.  Note that when a boss' health bar is lower than one-quarter, he will NOT auto-heal, which means that he is ready for "the kill'n" and/or "retreat'n".  Of course, none of this is too chivalric, but if you try to fight Alexander hand-to-hand, you're "dead meat"!.  You can instead just edge forward for the cutscene and then shoot Alexander in the back as he advances and then retreats back and forth to camp.  Note that if you time things you can get your arrow in the cutscene!

When you come-up on the camp, you will get a cutscene, whether you have spotted Alexander earlier or not.  (His initial position within the camp may vary -- I am not completely sure.)  Alexander is left-handed, and he is ready for action.  He is, however, as he was in the previous mission, in the "defend the camp" mode, which means that he will not chase you too far from the camp.  His men will, however, follow, so lead them back to La Hire using SP, or better yet, release La Hire and have him come to the outskirts of the camp for a good, nasty fight, IF and WHEN Alexander has retreated!  As always, just watch your and your men's food supply; hence, do NOT come to camp unless you have LOTS of food.  pick up the L2 Amulet of our Lord which Alexander drops, which is yours for a short time.

It's possible to clear the camp entirely with just Alexander remaining, in which case, he will run back and forth through the camp, even though it is under "French" control.  Brother William is in the camp to the north (the one due west from you started), however, he, like Alexander, is in the "defend the camp" mode, and it is impossible to fight both him and Alexander at the same time.  Perhaps it is due to a "family feud," but you will never fight Alexander & William together, only William & John, at least until you kill the latter.

Do not enter the camp, unless you have to.  (Sometimes, it is unavoidable.)  Instead, go enter the camp a little, attract the attention of a squad (or, unavoidable, sometimes two), then lead them back to La Hire.  (You should move him and his troops forward a bit down the path.)  Finish each squad off one by one.  On each sortie, go a little further into camp (to "attract" more English.)  Fight Alexander, if he is not already gone, but do NOT bring La Hire anywhere close to him!  (If you do, he will decimate La Hire's men, and probably, La Hire.)  Once Alexander is gone, bring La Hire to the camp's southeast side.  In all, you'll encounter four 4-man squads of knights, two 4-man squads of infantry, two 4-man squads of macemen and 8 leaderless archers (which include the 2 you killed earlier.)

Once you (Joan) have conquered most of the camp (especially, the nearby archers; climb the short northern tower next to the flag to sniper all of the archers, including one to your south through a tree!  Just wait for your reticle to turn green.), move La Hire into the center of the camp.  (He's scripted to follow you, last reminder on that one.)  Do not bring him too early, otherwise, the English archers will have a small "field day" shooting him and his men (plus you.)  Time for some SP.  After finishing off all the archers to the north, go south with La Hire following you and kill the three leaderless English polemen at the southern entrance, after which, the camp will be yours!

Return to the camp and go to the farthest point west toward the northwest "wall."  Switch to long-range map mode.  You are now about to communicate with the Duke.  Pass him some inventory (not apples), and, from La Hire's stock, the L1 Quartz Crystal, L1 Warrior of Infinity, L1 Holy Protection Ring, and L2 Amulet of our Lord; take all his apples and his L1 bow (which you are going to sell-off in Mission 6.)  After that, give La Hire all of your charms, and then use the remaining charms in inventory for yourself.  You will encounter horses for the second time, four of them.  They are mainly just "for show," with a few notable exceptions.  Scour the camp for goodies; a treasure chest with yet another Black Star Opal is near the center of camp next to a text.  Don't forget to climb all the towers and visit the tents, just "for kicks."

Park La Hire and go down the short winding paths to the SOUTH of the camp (not north; that's where William is!).  Lead the 3 English knights, all leaderless, back to La Hire.  When you get to a large flat area, you will see a group of crossbowmen and archers in a L-shape.  If you (Joan) are not commanding a lone man (he died, right?), do not attack them; instead, lead the 6 leaderless knights in the field back to La Hire, not all at once.  Release La Hire and go back to the field but hug the left wall turning southeast.  On the other hand, if your man survived, clear the field with La Hire on your heels, killing all the knights, 4 crossbowmen, and 4 archers.  (Do ***NOT*** venture into the forest!!!)  After that, go up the hill toward the blacksmith and shoppe, eliminating the three leaderless English infantrymen in the path.

Don't be surprised if you (or La Hire, etc.) get "stuck" in this area or elsewhere on Mission 4.  This is a software bug that has happened in a lot of games, including Doom 3.  Unfortunately (or, fortunately), there is no console and no "no-clip" mode, so your options are limited, short of reloading your level.  Here are some things that you can try if you get stuck:

1)  Switch to a different player who is not stuck.  Lead some English soldiers back to the stuck commander, who then may (or may not) be able to attack them.

2)  The Preferred Solution:  Bring a horse.  Park the horse next to the stuck commander, and switch to him (or her) and then mount the horse.  This solution has ALWAYS worked for me, so horses do have uses other than just being for show.

3)  The Least Preferred Solution:  Bring La Hire and try "pushing" the stuck general.

All else fails, just leave 'em, but this is a very unlikely scenario (never has happened to me, so far as I know); the horse *should* work.  Time for a "charm check."  Everyone should have the following charms:

Joan   :  L2 Tiger's Eye, L1 Black Star Opal, L1 Hematite Bloodstone, L1 Amulet of Yahweh
Jean   :  L1 Tiger's Eye, L1 Citrine Spiral Pendant, L1 Hematite Bloodstone, L1 Amulet of Yahweh
La Hire:  L2 Tiger's Eye, L1 Diamond, L1 Seal of the Living God, L2 Amulet of Yahweh
Alencon:  L1 Quartz Crystal, L1 Warrior of Infinity, L1 Holy Protection Ring, L2 Amulet of Yahweh

Finish off the two leaderless 3-man groups of archers and infantrymen in this small town, Tours, ignoring the path to the east which leads to Sir William Glasdale's camp.  When you get to the Blacksmith, do **NOT** sell your junk (we'll do that in Mission 6; just "trust me" on this one!); which means the Level 1 bows, your old swords, and La Hire's Spiked War Club.  Go around back and pick up the Level 2 Rapid-Fire bow which is in a treasure chest; do ***NOT*** sell that also.

********* BUY THE LONGBOW!!!!!!! *********

If you do not do this, then stop reading this walkthrough; you'll need this bow and will not get another one until the END of Mission 6, so get it now!!  Do NOT sell your Level-1 crossbow, just in case you should run out of arrows ("shame on you," if you ever do!); do not buy the Level-2 Rapid-Fire crossbow (your longbow is more powerful) and do not buy the Seal of Antiquelis, which you will get when you conquer the Tourelles.  At 1,500 it is not worth it, and when you sell it back, you will only get one-half (750 -- ha, ha) for it, which is true for all the items that you will buy and sell from all the blacksmiths and shoppe owners throughout the game.  Consider also that the most expensive soldier in the game "sells" for 250.  "Do the math" and you are throwing your money away.

*** BUY REGULAR ARROWS *** -- At least "500" of them.  (You can only buy 99 at a time.)

*** Do NOT sell any of your "excess" charms *** -- We will sell those off after visiting "the traitor" in Mission 6.  You will need to be "low on cash" (but high on inventory) when you begin Mission 6, so as to maximize the dialogue of the game.

Do NOT sell Jean's sword! (Duh.  He could actually fight without it.)  Take note of the Blacksmith's "bad" English; typo or not, this one is "in character"!

Sell-off ALL your apples at the Shoppe (but do not buy any food, unless you are low on bread & buns -- you need at least 20 of those in total), and then head back where you came (do NOT go to the west, which is where Lord Talbot is waiting for you in the forest), this time hugging the "right wall" once you get to the flat, open field, unless of course, everyone there is already dead.  Go back to Alexander's camp, and get into "communicating range" with the Duke.  Pass him your longbow, lots of arrows, food, etc.  Make sure that his troop inventory is completely full of bread & buns; all his men should survive the next operation.

By this time, you should have noticed the little blue dot with the "fog of war" around it.  This is a wagon that you will encounter later on; it's a French asset, which is why it gets the blue dot on the map.  Most of the time your assets will be white dots, but for whatever reason, this one's blue, the only one in the game.  The English are, of course, not attacking it, but don't let your curiosity get the best of you, and just leave it alone, for now.  Why the game developers did this is beyond me, but if you read the bug section above, it is clear that Enlight was in a hurry to get this one out the door.

Hit '4'.  You are now commanding the Duke and his squad of 10 men.  Off to the northwest is a 'M' on your map, which is where Jean is.  We'll catch-up with him later on.  You'll get a message about attacking the Tourelles.  Of course, do NOT do that.  Instead, head down the path to its entrance and hang a "hard left" and head due south.  Have a quick peek at the not-so-mighty Tourelles but just do NOT go towards it!  Take note of the two open doors, one on its east side, the other on its south side.

After exiting the path, switch to Z-mode.  NO MELEE FIGHTING FOR THE DUKE!!  He is too weak for this, as his HP is very low, which means that he will die very, very quickly.  Instead, go south to attract your first 6-man squad of English macemen, quickly retreat all the while firing arrows, and then get behind your men.  Provide cover for them, and take out the enemy 1-by-1, as you watch the Duke's EXP points quickly rise.  Continue south and Rinse & Repeat.  You'll soon encounter a leaderless group of 3 Burgundian soldiers, followed by another leaderless squad of 3 archers (whom you can sniper from a distance), three knights, three macemen, and three archers, all without a commander and all of whom are facing the WRONG direction.  After finishing these guys off, follow the "race track" around for another group of three leaderless archers.

Off in the distance is Joan & La Hire.  You should *always* be in "communication range" with them at all times, just in case that they need to "pass" you items.  Continue south along the path; you will come to a "forest" with 4 paths, 2 of which lead around it, and 2 which lead into it.  Stop at the first path and then immediately hit F1 to check your troop inventory; fire some arrows at the three leaderless English infantrymen in the distance, and after finishing them off, swing left down the first path.  You will likely have already encountered five or so leaderless Burgundians; off to the right is Lord Talbot.  If you hug the "right wall" as you go east, you will see his big boss icon.

As you work your way down the path, you will see the L-shaped group of 4 archers and 4 crossbowmen (assuming, of course, that Joan & La Hire did not already kill them.)  Switch to Z-mode and take them all out with the bow from long-range, 1-by-1.  Do NOT enter the forest to your right.  (If you do, Lord Talbot will decimate your men, and probably, you also.)  Instead, head-up to Alexander's camp to meet up with Joan & La Hire.

Assign all your men to Joan, with you commanding the remaining polemen.  She can only command 9 men (unless you bought the Seal of Antiquelis, in which case, she could command the 10th man.)  Since you have 10 men (if you don't, of course, you can skip the remainder of this paragraph), the only way to preserve the life of the "odd man out" (or two, if Joan's man survived earlier) will be to take TWO horses, go southwest a very short distance on the path to the edge of camp which is marked by the wooden fence and "park" the horses in a perpendicular orientation to the path, in essence, so that the horses are blocking the path.  This will, if done correctly, stop your man (or men) from being able to follow you, at least for awhile.  You can also try trapping one (or both) in one of the horse stables!

Time to fight Sir William Glasdale.  Go back to the blacksmith and load-up on *regular* arrows.  (Once again, you will *not* have to buy ANY explosive arrows in the entire game.)  Fill-up your (the Duke's) inventory completely, make sure that you have the longbow, and switch to Z-mode.  Make sure that Joan & La Hire are "within range" (if not switch to them, and move them to the south.)  Head up the path to the east, take-out the three crossbowmen, and you will soon get a cutscene introducing William.  Do NOT enter the camp (called camp "de l'eau bleue"); if you do, you WILL die.  Instead, shoot arrows and start taking-out the English archers who will, of course, be returning fire.  (Remember, keep moving, as the English will aim for where you *are* and not where you are *going* -- the AI is not too creative!)

William will by this time be "running about" on a set path, which he will repeat over and over with his men just standing around.  Almost certainly, you will begin to "attract" the attention of two 5-man squads of 3 archers and 2 polemen who are commanded by an archer and a 6-man squad of 4 knights and 2 polemen who are commanded by a knight.  Lead them back down the path toward the blacksmith and shoppe; switch to explosive arrows (you should have at least 40), and carefully, and above all else, judiciously, take them out at point-blank range (for maximum killing); switch back to regular arrows when the survivors begin to dwindle.  If you lead them back to the blacksmith and shoppe owner, no big deal; they will ignore them.  Do you best, however, to fight as few, if any, enemy troops as possible so that you may have a "big time" battle later in the mission!!

FEED THE DUKE!!!  If he asks for help, GIVE IT TO HIM!!!!  He is very, very low on health, which means that it will only take a few hits to finish him off.  Eventually and soon, you will level-up, and per my instructions above, increase his HPs and ONLY his HPs.  After that, you can start to worry about him a *little* less.  In any case, if he takes ANY damage whatsoever, FEED HIM!!!  Don't wait for his health to drop below 50%; if that happens, he is a "dead man."

Eventually, William will start down the path, sometimes sooner, sometimes later.  Just wait for him *without* going into the camp.  When you are within his "attack sphere," he will start following you.  QUICKLY retreat down the path; William is not, by far, the biggest boss that you are going to face, but he can kill you with one hit, so don't get close.  If William, for whatever reason, is not appearing, enter the camp SLOWLY and ONLY *until* you attract the attention of a squad (or two), and then, QUICKLY retreat back down the path to the stores.  Switch to explosive arrows; after killing off most of the enemy, switch to regular arrows.  Rinse and repeat.  Eventually, William will follow you, but such may take some time, so go SLOW!!  Be patient; William will come, eventually.

Sir William is like Alexander (and John) la Pole and is in the "defend the camp" mode (you can see this for yourself in the game's script code), so start down the path back toward the store owners, retreating backward.  William will follow you, but eventually, he will turn around and head back to his camp.  When he does this, shoot him in the back.  Sometimes he will turn around to deflect your shots; just be patient, he will turn around again to go back to the camp.  When he does, shoot him in the back.  Rinse and repeat.  He will auto-heal several times; after that, he should be easy to defeat.

Soon William will retreat.  When he does, he will drop a key to the Tourelles.  Do NOT pick the key up.  Instead, leave it; you will see a "flashing X" on your map; no big deal, we'll get the key later.  The game has a quirky bug in it; if you pick the key up, you may get a message stating that "The attack on the Tourelles has begun" and the French cannons just outside the Tourelles may start attacking it.  We do not want that to occur, not yet at least.  If it does occur, you can always reload the game, which seems to fix the problem.  Do NOT enter the camp; instead, retreat back to the blacksmith and shoppe owners.

Time to fight Lord Talbot, who's "hanging out" in the "da la foret" forest.  For an "old dude," he's pretty powerful.  One hit from him will take half of your health and will (fortunately) "put you on your back," which will prevent him, at least temporarily, from damaging you anymore.  Stop off at the blacksmith to resupply your inventory of arrows and make sure that both your HP and EP bars are full.  Go down to the open field and make sure that Joan & La Hire are safely within the confines of Alexander's camp and "in range" just in case you would run out of food (which should not happen.)

Approach the forest slowly in Z-mode.  When you see Lord Talbot, fire an arrow at him.  A cutscene will take place, and you will see your arrow hitting Lord Talbot!  (Note the treasure chest to his left, "your right."  Don't let the camera's perspective fool you!)  Unlike all the la Pole brothers and Sir William, Lord Talbot is *not* in the "defend the camp" mode, which means that he will chase you WHEREVER you go!

Lead him back to the open field.  If you have been foolish enough to allow Joan & La Hire to "see" him, he will decimate them and their men, so don't do that.  Instead, fire arrows at him as he approaches you keeping him in the field but close to the forest.  Eventually, he will have enough and retreat back into the forest with a large group of crossbowmen appearing to defend him.  As he retreats, you can fire arrows at him; he will only be in the "defensive" mode at this point, which means that he will not attack you.  As he retreats, fire arrows at him, but keep an eye on his health bar.  He will auto-heal one time (keep attacking him until he does); after that, he will retreat if you drain his health bar completely and you will lose a cutscene.

Instead, fire at him until his health bar is around 25%.  (Don't risk going lower than that.)  Approach the forest and begin firing at his 14 crossbowmen one-by-one.  As with the archers, they will fire at "where you are and not where you are going," so keep moving.  You have the advantage with your longbow, so take them out one-by-one.  When the last one is gone, you will get another cutscene.  Lord Talbot wants a rematch.  At this point, make sure that your health bar is completely full!

If you are far enough away from him, he will not attack you, but will remain at the top of the hill, so approach him, if necessary, to "trigger" him.  At this point you could, in theory, lead him all over the map, even fight him and another boss (only William and John remain, and the latter is behind a gate) at the same time.  I have never done that and you will get nothing from doing so.  (You will have an opportunity to fight multiple bosses at the same time later on.)  Instead, lead him back down to the open field.

His health bar should be low at this time, so finishing him off should be no problem.  Just do not get close to him; even if you drain him completely, he could still hit (or even kill) you during the final cutscene.  (Feed the Duke if Lord Talbot hits you!!)  Lord Talbot will promise you a rematch, and you will meet him again in Mission 6, but the game will not give you the pleasure of killing him.  (Note the game's missing textures that occur during Lord Talbot's cutscene, a gross coding error!)  Dunois & d'Illers will appear with a message and you will see their fleurs-de-lys on the southwest side of the map.  That's where Jean was heading before he got "picked-up."  We'll meet up with Dunois & d'Illers later on.

After Lord Talbot retreats, he will drop a key; do not pick it up.  If you do, it will probably be no big deal (just a "safety precaution," considering the other software bug.)  Go up into the forest but do not approach either of the two exists.  On a shallow hill, a treasure chest sits, with a Level 2 Warrior of Infinity charm; pick that up.  Go back to the blacksmith for a quick refill on arrows and then head back to Joan & La Hire in Alexander's camp and give Joan your L1 Warrior of Infinity charm.  Put Joan & La Hire in a Hold status, reposition your man (or men) to the south of the two horses, refill Joan & La Hire's troop inventory, and then head north; good time to check on Jean's status, also -- he may have "leveled-up" (even in captivity), so increase his HP & teach him some new moves.  (If not, check periodically.)  It's time to meet the other "William."

Return to Joan & La Hire; you'll have to remount one of the horses in order to get into camp, but if you do things right, you can trap your man between the two horses, sparing his life.  Just north of Alexander's camp are several Burgundians awaiting you (facing the wrong way!); fire a single arrow at each of them and then led them back to Joan & La Hire.  The Duke is not yet ready for melee.  Return and continue north; after another lone Burgundian infantryman, you will get a cutscene.  William, like his brothers, is in the "defend the camp" mode, which means that he will not chase you too far away from his camp.  However, a large ("very red") contingent of English will appear to the east and start heading south.

You'll soon encounter a mix of 40 English troops, 5-man squads of macemen, knights, infantry, polemen, etc.  Those squads commanded by a captain will *not* follow you beyond the confines of the camp.  (Like Sir William da la Pole, they are in the "defend the camp" mode.)  The leaderless troops, however, will follow you, so get their "attention" and led them back to Joan & La Hire for their destruction.  Note that your man (or two men) may have "taken-off", and if so, are now in the forest where Lord Talbot was; watch, if you wish, their return on your long-range map.

Ready your explosive arrows and attack the English east of William's camp, along with the 2 (or 3 or zero!) Burgundian infantry whom you did not sniper at the start of this mission.  Be judicious.  You can "run around" most of the English attackers; it's even easier than Pac-Man.  Head to the Loire (what else could it be?) and head east towards where you started at the very beginning of the game.  (You cleared some of those Burgundian infantrymen at the beginning of the game for a reason.)  Retreat backwards and fire a couple of explosive arrows at point-blank range, alternating with your regular ones which you should use to target English captains; lead any leaderless men back to Joan & La Hire while avoiding "creep".  Do not overuse your explosive arrows; you'll need some for the Tourelles later on, so limit yourself to a total of 10 and not more than 3 (5 at the max) in a row.

One of the captains will have dropped a L1 Seal of Antiquelis (or Black Star Opal).  If so, pass it to Joan, and when everyone is safe, have her take command of one (but not two) of the Duke's men.  It may be that both of the Duke's soldier(s) have "broken through" the horses, and if so, don't waste any food supplies on him (them).  Dunois & d'Illers have brought some fresh men with them; as such, you should have plenty of men for your three active commanders.  (Dunois & d'Illers will not see any action, so as to preserve their lives!)

Return to fight William along the banks of the Loire just as you fought Alexander and Sir William Glasdale.  He, like his pals, is in the "defend the camp" mode, so draw him towards you firing regular arrows at him as you slowly retreat eastward; when he turns around, pelt him some more.  Rinse and repeat, returning to Joan & La Hire as necessary.  (Reposition Joan & La Hire WITHIN Alexander's camp at the south side!!)  Eventually, he will retreat dropping a key.  Do NOT pick that key up.  (To prevent this, make sure that your coup de grâce to William is in the form of an arrow, as the Duke should *not* be doing melee.)  If you do, you will lose some dialogue.

After Sir William retreats, quickly retreat to Alexander's camp and assign all of Joan's men to you, the Duke, and take command of Joan.  Position La Hire and Alencon just north of Alexander's camp at the top of the hill, keeping both in a hold status.  Give Joan the bow and have her run into William's camp (called "St. Jean Le Blanc") bypassing everyone (including, William's dropped key!); talk to the two men who are chained to stakes, and then exit the camp, QUICKLY.  As always, watch your health.  If possible, you should conquer William's camp completely before picking his key up.

Time for some SP.  Have Joan kill-off the remaining English captains, leading their soon-to-be leaderless men back to La Hire & the Duke.  After eliminating the melee units, the easiest way to finish-off William's camp is to go west until you reach a "dirt wall" in the small ditch just north of the camp.  Clean-out the enemies in your path, which will consist of three English archers.  After the outside of camp is cleared, go to the gate and sniper the remaining six leaderless archers and any stray crossbow men who are inside the camp.  Do NOT bring Alencon or La Hire to the camp but do reposition both of them at the top of the hill after each skirmish.

Inside, are two gents chained to stakes.  After finishing off the English, go talk to both of them again, "twice" just to be sure.  Then, go pick up William da la Pole's key, which is now another flashing X on your map.  (You will, of course, no longer be able to see the other two flashing Xs, as you are too far north.)  Go back and free the two French citizens.  Talk to both of them again for additional dialogue.  They are staying put and will do so for the remainder of the mission.  One has a charm for you, a Level 2 quartz crystal (give that to Alencon), and another some news that you will, of course, already know (i.e. "Sir William's key.")  Be sure to talk to each man twice (for a total of three times each) before heading-out to get all the dialogue.

Scour the camp for goodies.  (For kicks, go *behind* the jail cell to talk to the two French citizens; repeat for each side -- they will turn to talk to you!)  You will pick up a Level 1 Quartz Crystal (give that to yourself, as La Hire should already have one) and one of the officers will have dropped a Black Star Opal (or Seal of Antiquelis) outside the camp.  Go into all the tents; you will find nothing, but it's fun.  After busting all the crates, go back to the camp gate and close it.  If you do not, nothing will happen, but as a soon-to-be-member of nobility (Joan and her family would be ennobled by Charles VII after his coronation at Rheims), you want to keep your subjects safe, don't you?  (Besides, the two guys can't be killed, even if you lead the English right up to them.)

Go back to La Hire and Alencon and reposition everyone within Alexander's camp.  Time for a little "follow the leader."  But first, move the horses on the south path back into Alexander's camp.  After that, move Joan down to the open field (where you, as Alencon, fought Lord Talbot); La Hire will, of course follow, but make sure that he does not pick up the key (probably no big deal if he does.)  Switch between Joan and the Duke ('1' then '4'), such that the Duke is always *following* Joan and is *always behind* La Hire.

In total, you should have 19 (or 20) men -- 11 commanded by Alencon (who can command 13 men), 9 commanded by La Hire, and none commanded by you, Joan.  (Of course, these numbers assume that you successfully "stuck" and "re-stuck" your men on the horses and kept them fed!  But, it's no big deal if you only have a total of less than 10 men at this point; they have less worth than the food which they eat!  How medieval?!!)  Once everyone is in the open field, have Joan visit the shoppe and blacksmith owners just west of Sir William Glasdale's camp, buying all of the bread & buns and replenish your regular arrows.  Replenish La Hire and Alencon's troop inventory as much as you can using *all* of your available bread & buns.  If you want to see the shoppe owner's backside, talk to him from the *outside* of his shoppe.

Time for some more fighting.  Return to the open field and When you (Joan) get to the forest, make a "hard left."  Put La Hire and the Duke into a hold status once they have entered completely into the most southern path.  Go slow or some of your men may head-up the adjoining path through the forest only to be attacked; it will be a good time to pause and make sure that the Duke's and La Hire's inventory are well-stocked.  Switch to short-range mode and then send Joan up the hill on the path; use SP and have her lead the 4 leaderless Burgundian infantry troops back to La Hire & Alencon.  Provide cover for the Duke especially, and if necessary, any of the troops who have wandered up the adjoining path.

Scurry up and down the path toward the wagon as Joan, avoiding creep.  You'll enjoy several small skirmishes, but with your small army's archers and crossbowmen providing long-range cover, each battle will be easily won.  Keep an eye out for any isolated troops; they, like you, will die quickly if surrounded.  After all of the enemy infantry units are dead, release La Hire and Alencon from their hold status.  Send Joan a final time up the hill, and have her sniper the archers surrounding the cart and the area will be secure, at least for now.  You'll encounter the 3 leaderless English infantryman whom you, as the Duke, saw earlier prior to entering the path which was west of the forest, along with three 3-man squads of English infantry and 3 leaderless archers.

On your left and toward your south is Dunois & d'Illers; do *NOT* approach them.  If it is daytime, you should be able to see them clearly in z-mode; if it is nighttime and raining, it will be more difficult.  Just do not get close, otherwise, you will trigger a cutscene, and we do not want that, at least not now.  Doing so will deprive yourself of a general (the Duke) and a "cool addition" that we are going to make to an upcoming cutscene.  We will join-up with them later.

To your northwest is a church.  Don't go into it; we'll do that later.  Instead, switch to Joan and send her (with La Hire following) toward the back of the church, and then switch to the Duke.  Follow Joan into battle; she'll immediately encounter a 3-man group of infantry, and after turning the corner, 3 archers, who will quickly be backed-up by another 3-man group infantry, all leaderless.  Watch Joan closely, as she is faster than La Hire and may get ahead of the troops and require assistance.  Provide cover.  When the area is secure, you will notice that two 2-man groups of English have appeared back at the cart on both sides of Dunois & d'Illers, all leaderless crossbowmen; swing back (as the Duke) to take them out with your longbow.  Smash the two empty crates which you have passed just earlier.

Time to explore the church, so switch back to Joan, putting La Hire into a hold status.  The level designers included a number of "hidden walls"; why they did this is beyond me.  It wasn't necessary.  First, go behind the Church towards La Hire (via the map); you can't reach it, but at the end of the short path is a crate with a chicken.  Don't try going into the church courtyard; it's blocked.  Instead, go around to the front of the Church and enter into the courtyard.  Go into the building on its "left" entrance and you will encounter an invisible wall.

The Church has modern pews!  (Don't think that those existed in the early 15-century!)  Go back into the courtyard and enter into the church's front door.  Go up to the altar; you will see an ancient Roman missal if you press the Z-button.  (Not the Vulgate Bible, by the way; those did not come with pictures, at least not at that time!)  The missal is facing the *wrong* direction; it would have been on the altar behind you, as Mass was said facing *away* from the people.  Look at the altar, and you will see some icons and a crucifix, but no side altars (one to Mary, the other to Joseph.)  It is clear that Enlight wanted to "tone-down" Joan's (or Jehanne's) Catholic spirituality and beliefs.  What a pity!

Go out the other side-door of the church; you will enter another compound.  (Do NOT explore the Church with any troops; you will create a "traffic jam" if you do.)  La Hire is just beyond the wall; get the goodies and go back into the Church and out the front door and explore the other compounds.  Move the Duke over beside La Hire and move to the vanguard.  Time for some more fighting this time as the Duke.

Send Joan up the path to the north towards the two white dots, but swing a right toward the small open field.  Switch back & forth between her and "you" (the Duke), but make sure that you ("the Duke") are *always* at the rearguard.  You are still too weak to be at the vanguard; that's Joan's job.  La Hire should, of course, be following Joan!

Send her into battle; three knights are in the middle of the field with three crossbowmen behind them, all leaderless.  As soon as the computer takes control of her, provide cover with arrows, focusing on the crossbowmen after a quick shot at each knight.  Easy pickings, and the area should be clear of English, for now at least.  Head towards the two white dots in the adjoining town.  If you like, have the Duke attack all three crossbowmen at the same time!  You can see first hand how far a poleman general's weapon can reach!!

It's a big town, the biggest non-walled city that you will encounter in the entire game, excluding, the large farming community in Mission 8.  No goodies, either (the town's crates are all empty.)  You will be meeting up with the blacksmith and shoppe owner shortly, but for now, park Joan & La Hire on the main path next to the shoppe.  Some English units will be attacking.  Send the Duke over to the priest and town councillor.  The latter will not talk to you, not yet at least.

Talk to the priest; the English have ransacked the church and are thieves.  (Historically doubtful, by the way; I do not think that the English, who were still fully Catholic during the early 15th-century, destroyed Catholic churches or stole items out of them.)  The "blue dot" on the map is where the stuff is (the cart is completely empty, by the way.)  But, for now, this is a small detail that can wait.

As soon as you talk to the priest, the English will attack, a 5-man squad of infantry.  Talk to him again to get some dialogue (he will tell you that the English are attacking!) and go back to help Joan & La Hire out.  Don't bother with the town councillor; he will remain silent, at least for now.  After finishing-off the English at the town's south gate, send Joan & La Hire to the north gate; you (the Duke) provide cover via your longbow.

You will immediately be attacked by a 5-man squad of macemen and a leaderless poleman; after them, a 3-man squad of archers will have positioned themselves at the north entrance.  Soon after them, you'll encounter a 4-man squad of English macemen (who are facing the wrong way!), a 3-man squad of macemen (who are facing the "correct" way), and then to an adjoining path, some four or so leaderless Burgundians.  After finishing them off, send Joan & La Hire a *short* distance into the path.  You, the Duke, head a *short* distance north, but do NOT approach the Tourelles.  Instead, you will almost immediately see three leaderless crossbowmen off in the distance; take them out with your longbow and watch your EXP indicator rise!  Return to the priest for a quick chat to get a tiny variation on dialogue!!  (See below.)

After that, return to Joan and La Hire and then head off into the forest; it's completely empty, for now (assuming, of course, that you did *not* retrieve the English cart and then talk to the town councillor!)  Enjoy your jog through the forest; off to the north (near the Tourelles) is a Level 2 charm (a Seal of the Living God), which you can pick up now or later on; it's up to you.  (Do it now, so it is not forgotten!)  Let Joan & La Hire rest.  Note that some of your men will likely get stuck on the path leading to the Tourelles; just have Joan push on them to get them going.

While snaking around towards the "racetrack", eventually wind your way back to that "blue dot," which now has a white dot next to it.  (The village where the wagon is located at, as you have learned from the priest and town councillor, is called "Eglise de lumiere".)  Someone is waiting for you (a good guy, so don't worry.)  Have another peek at Dunois & d'Illers but do not approach them.  (Once again, you will mess-up a cutscene if you do.)  Instead, go talk to the wagon driver.  Talk to him again to get some additional dialogue, and then again -- "off you go!"

The wagon driver will follow you, but only up to a point.  "For kicks," try heading to the nearby forest where you fought Lord Talbot.  The driver will follow you, but then will stop and you will get some dialogue.  Go talk to the driver (put him in "follow" mode); then, head down the path toward where you started (toward the racetrack); the wagon will not follow you, but will instead start moving in a circle.  Switch to z-mode and watch carefully; a bug exists in the game's rendering system.  You will (or, may) see the driver "floating" in mid-air to the right of the wagon as it turns, only to "pop" back into his seat.

Head back to the town (Fierbois) with the priest & town counciller/councillor.  The wagon is scripted to follow a set path.  Try going to the small open field where you fought the knights and crossbowmen; the wagon will take the path to the west.  When you have had enough, head back to the town.  Talk to the priest quickly (if you did not already do so) to get an earlier variation on his and the counciller's dialogue (hit 'M' to compare), and once the wagon shows-up, talk to him again; the wagon will disappear, driver, also.  You will get the Saint Catherine sword, but store it away in your (the Duke's) inventory; we will not be using it until the very end of the game.

Do **NOT** talk to the councillor (spelled "Counciller" on your objectives.)  We will be talking to him later on, multiple times.  Instead, visit the blacksmith (don't buy the armor -- you already have it!) and shoppe (buy all the bread & buns) owners, and then head north toward the Tourelles and hook-up with Joan & La Hire.  After meeting up with them, send Joan north (with La Hire) following, but go slow.  Put La Hire in a hold status well south of the Tourelles.  As Joan approaches the fort, several English macemen will come out to meet her.  Defeat them solo or lead them back to La Hire.  Be sure to finish them off (and, so, just wait for them, if need be), otherwise, they will begin attacking the cannons, albeit slowly!!

Release La Hire and continue north.  As soon as Jean's "M" symbol appears on La Hire's long-range map (as Joan, you'll need to "guess" when this occurs, however, La Hire will be "in range" of Jean *shortly* after you are), put him back into a hold status.  This is a little tricky; if you do things right, La Hire will be just outside of the firing range of the English archers who are atop the Saint Augustine fortification.  Just be sure that after switching to Joan, that you immediately press Shift-3 and verify La Hire's red icon on your HUD.

With Joan hugging the "left wall," move her around and behind the French cannons.  Go west until you get to a treasure chest.  Inside is a VERY important charm for La Hire, the "Ring of Yahve."  Pick it up and swap it for La Hire's #2 slot.  He should now have a L2 Quartz Crystal, the L1 Ring of Yahve, a L1 Bloodstone, and a L2 Amulet of Yahweh.  Soon, you will upgrade the Bloodstone to a L2, and, eventually, a L3, but for now, La Hire is set for the rest of the game.

Now, for a neat cutscene.  Position Joan just west of the cannons so that she is facing west-northwest (180 degrees to the cannons), putting her into a hold status.  Switch to the Duke, and IMMEDIATELY hit Shift-F1 to put Joan into a hold status (otherwise, she will attack Saint Augustine solo), verify that La Hire & Joan are in a hold status via the long-range map and are not taking damage from archer fire (if so, switch back to them and reposition them; rinse and repeat), and after things are completely stable on your HUD, jog/trot south towards Dunois & d'Illers.  Watch your HUD at **ALL** times; it's tempting to look at the scenery, but do NOT do that.

If you have followed my instructions, the map will be completely clear ahead of you, so don't worry about encountering any English.  During your run, Joan may be attacked; if that happens, you will see it on your HUD.  If this occurs, switch back to Joan and have her retreat towards La Hire.  Just do NOT enter Saint Augustine, and you should be fine; after any such skirmishes, reposition La Hire, and then Joan, putting them both in a hold status.

After reaching Dunois & d'Illers, you will get the cutscene, "Live from the Saint Augustine..."  Yes, you will see Joan amidst the cannons -- how cool!!  (Well, it is for me, at least.)  Watch Joan for a minute or two -- she may swing her sword to "move" you along!  You will also get some additional dialogue as you have yet to free Jean de Metz.  At this point the Duke is basically done.  Have him fetch the key that Lord Talbot dropped and quickly hurry back to the town with the priest & councillor with Dunois & d'Illers following him wherever he goes.  Get him "in range" of La Hire and pass the key to the latter's inventory, along with the longbow.  Then, head back to the town councillor; that's where he will be "camping" for awhile.

Switch back to Joan.  Head west a very short distance and then take a "sharp right" via the small fork and hug the left wall.  Off to your right is the not-so-mighty Tourelles.  Due north is poor Jean; don't worry about him.  As a prisoner, he can't be killed.  Do NOT, and I repeat, do **NOT** attack any of the English archers who you will encounter as you sprint north toward Jean, or, for that matter, the Tourelles.  (If you do, you may send the cannons into action and obliteration, as well as lose dialogue from Jean and a cutscene.)  As you soon as you reach him, swing left and go up the path towards "the void" (the edge of the map); to your right is the Loire.  A large contingent of English troops will likely follow you; don't worry, they will turn around.

After getting the L2 Citrine Spiral Pendant, head back to Jean.  (You should *not* have the "handcuff key" at this point.)  Go up to him to get a cutscene and then talk him again a second time to get a small variation on his previous dialogue.  Retreat back down the path to the northwest; English troops will follow you, at least a 5-man squad of infantry.  Decimate them after they turn around.  Then, quickly, go around behind the cell-house to get another L2 Bloodstone and pass that to La Hire, exchanging that for his L1 Bloodstone.  Wait for the English to follow you behind the cell-house; then decimate them 1-by-1.  Most, if not all, of them should approach you from the west.  Do NOT use the bow, which you should not have anyway.

Transfer the "handcuff key" from La Hire, go free Jean, and give him his sword (which La Hire should have.)  Quickly retreat (that is, you, Joan) behind the cell-house.  Switch to Jean and send him south, this time hugging the "right wall."  After swinging around behind the cannons (note that any English who follow Jean will ignore the cannon operators completely!  Not true, of course, of those previous 3 leaderless macemen.), have Jean return to La Hire, passing him and then stop by the path leading into the forest.  Quickly switch to Joan, and hit Shift-2.  This is VERY important, as Jean will try to position himself behind the cannons, so he needs to be in a hold status for now.  You (Joan) follow Jean's path south and when you pass La Hire, release him from his hold status, but verify that he is following you!  If not, switch to him and lead him back in the direction of the Duke.

Lead La Hire back to the "racetrack" (the circular area that the Duke passed when you assumed control of him) but make sure that he is in range of Jean.  Time for someone housekeeping -- give Jean the longbow, all the arrows (regular and explosive), and plenty of food; after that, move Jean behind the cannons, where Joan was.  Put La Hire in a hold status; switch to the Duke and lead him to the opening of the forest where Lord Talbot was "hanging out"; position him at the entry next to the open field where you (should have) felled Lord Talbot.  Switch to Joan and put the Duke into a hold status.  You (Joan) travel to Sir William Glasdale's camp; we're going after the key to Saint Augustine.

When you reach the key, pick it up, retreat so that you are in range of the Duke, switch to the him, *quickly* hit Shift-1, putting Joan into a hold status (otherwise, she will attack Sir William's camp).  As Alencon, pass the key directly from Joan to La Hire.  (You've created a little "messenger chain."  None of this, of course, is necessary but you'll need this "ability" later on, so we're going to practice a little now!)  Move La Hire down the path towards where the Duke started off at the very beginning of the game.  When La Hire is near (but south of) the cove where the Duke started out, switch to Joan, and put La Hire in a hold status.  At this point everyone should be in a hold status (except, of course, Joan, you.)  Make sure that La Hire has the key to Saint Augustine in his inventory, otherwise, you will lose some dialogue.

Time to attack the Tourelles!  Have Joan (you) return to the town with the priest and then move her northwest back to the four French cannons and position her as she was before, just southwest of Saint Augustine.  Along the way, transfer the Saint Augustine key from La Hire to her.  Make sure that she is at the vanguard of the cannons (but out of range of the archers), so that she can provide protection to them, because they will be attacked.  (They can do a pretty good job of defending themselves, however!)  Switch to the Duke, immediately put Joan into a hold status, and then send the Duke to Sir William da la Pole's camp.  Go in (after opening the gate, of course), and after all your men have entered (and, especially, Dunois & d'Illers), close the gate!  Park him by the two French citizens as far west as you can get him.  Switch to Jean.

Send Jean north into Saint Augustine using the fortress' south door.  As soon as he "steps foot in the door," the attack will commence.  After entering the south entrance of the building, go directly into what appears to be small room (in actuality, a very short hallway), continue north, and swing left and you should find a stairway (which is the only route, of course!); go up to the gate and try to open it to get the extra dialogue.  Be sure to that BOTH La Hire and the Duke are in a HOLD status (and that both REMAIN in that status, even though the latter is "locked" in William's camp), as they will try to attack Saint Augustine (which is why we took the precaution of "locking" the Duke up, historically accurate, by the way)!!

Hit F1 and transfer the key from Joan to you and open the gate; you will get a cutscene (along with message from a traitor?) and a new objective that you will have *no* problem fulfilling.  At this point you have 3 options:  1)  Continue upstairs, climb the ladder, and fight the English for a moment in the "control tower," killing the English traitor and his squad (which is completely in accordance with "medieval values" -- they hated traitors!); 2)  Go out onto the balcony and fight the English archers; 3)  Go back downstairs and fight more English.

Select Option 1.  It will give you a chance to observe the automated pulleys in action.  A new sword for Jean is up there, also; don't pick it up yet, you are needed elsewhere.  Fight the English, and after a minute, the French cannons will kill them, the archers, and eliminate the automated turrets without damaging you!  (No "friendly fire" in this game!)  Climb back down the ladder and go downstairs to a waiting and "angry" throng of English.  Don't worry about the balcony; we'll get to that later!

Go downstairs and fight the English; you may need to use some explosive arrows to "clear" the stairs.  Just do not use too many.  After that, go outside and finish-off any of the archers and/or melee troops who are threatening the cannons.  (Note that these troops will be in the "defend the camp" mode around Saint Augustine.)  The cannons will probably stay put; however, sometimes 1 or 2 of them will move closer to the Tourelles, which will result in the deaths of the men manning them and their subsequent inoperability.  Keep an eye on Joan's health, as she will also join the fray, as perhaps will La Hire and his men; as such, keep both of them *south* of Saint Augustine.  Once you receive the message that Saint Augustine has been conquered, move La Hire over to the cove where Alencon started out and keep everyone in a Hold status after switching back to Jean.

John da la Pole is waiting for you; no big deal, you have fought him before.  Like his bros., he is in the "defend the camp" mode, so he will not venture far outside of the Tourelles; in fact, he cannot come out until the gate to the Tourelles has been destroyed.  Note that if the cannons do not destroy the gate, assign La Hire's men to Joan and then have him come and beat on it until it is almost destroyed; then, move him back to where he was and have Jean fire explosive arrows at the gate to finish the job.  Be sure that the cannons are clear of any enemies, and once they are, move Joan over next to La Hire; use arrows to insure this, before you confront John.

Wait for the cannons to decimate the gate (but, once again, before they do, be sure to move Joan and La Hire over to the exact spot where the Duke started out) and if John then decides to come-out, lead him east towards the Loire and Brother William's camp and then shoot him in the back when he turns around.  He does not, however, always come out to fight you.  Before he fights you, you will get a cutscene IF you approach the Tourelles; you could also try firing an arrow (or two) at him when you see him to trigger the cutscene (and get the arrows in the cutscene!)  In fact, as with brother Alexander, you can fire multiple arrows to weak John's health; as before, if you do this, don't weaken him to the point where he retreats, as you will lose a cutscene!

John is, however, not your "biggest problem"; the horde of English soldiers are the immediate threat.  Lead them east; if John follows, he does; if not, lead the horde of English back to Joan and La Hire.  If you do have to fight John, alternate between explosive arrows and regular ones; just be sure to fire at "point blank" range for maximum destruction.  When you have killed all of the foot-soldiers off and the archers around Saint Augustine, go into the Tourelles to fight John, assuming, of course, that he has not already come-out.  Finish him off as before; it should be no problem, as you (Jean) are stronger, whereas, John is not.  Make sure that La Hire & Joan are NEVER in "visual contact" with John, so keep them in the "Duke's scouting cove"!

When John has retreated (he'll drop a L1 Alexandrite charm, which will increase the firing rate of the long bow), release Joan and bring her into the Tourelles; hit Shift-3 to release La Hire.  Switch back to Jean and bring him into the Tourelles (if you are not already there) and attack the archers and crossbowmen who are on the *western* wall and then kill the archers who are on the south wall, using your new charm.  It's easiest if you go into the northwestern charred-out room and sniper the archers & crossbowmen off, one-by-one.  When you have killed half or more of them, go out and finish the rest off; provide cover for your other generals as needed.  pick up the Seal of Antiquelis before heading over to the eastern wall, which you should store, permanently, in Joan's inventory.

During your one-man show, let the computer control Joan & La Hire.  If you have released the Duke from his hold status, he will not attack the Tourelles.  If you have placed him in the "da la foret" forest, he will instead run "back and forth" in a north-south line within the forest.  (But, he should be in Brother William's camp, right?)  As always, keep an eye on everyone's heath via your HUD.  We don't want anyone dying and spoiling our game!  Go east to get food from the Duke if you start to run low.

It's difficult to say how many enemy soldiers you'll encounter in this, your first major assault.  After the hordes of melee troops (which will likely number around 60) consisting mostly of macemen and polemen, you'll be bombarded by two 16-man squads of 10 archers and 6 crossbowmen, who are commanded by an archer, who'll be firing at you constantly from the upper balcony of the Tourelles.  Two dozen or so leaderless archers are surrounding Saint Augustine and the Tourelles on the ground; you'll need to kill nearly all of them to take both fortresses.  Of course, take Saint Augustine first and then the Tourelles.

When the main Tourelles is cleared, clear the remaining archers who are outside of the north and western side.  Once done, go back inside and pick up the L6 Sword of Agincourt for Joan and then head back to Saint Augustine to pick up Jean's sword, a L3 "Le Faucon," in the tower before clearing the balcony of goodies.  (You can get a wonderful view of Joan's lovely face and her cute bangs, as she climbs down the ladder.)  A worthless (at least in my opinion) Malachite charm is on the north side of Saint Augustine, and some barrels are to the east toward William's camp.  Scour the area inside and out for goodies, especially, the upper charred rooms.  We will not be returning to this area, so say "goodbye" to the cannon operators.  If they have stayed put and not hit any English macemen, all 8 of them should be alive; if not, oh well, such is not a game spoiler!

Have Joan head back to the forest.  Time to clean-up Sir William Glasdale's camp (the "other" William).  La Hire, for whatever reason (well, actually, he's scripted to "defend the camp" once the attack on the Tourelles begins), will want to stay in the Tourelles and run around, so send him over to the Duke, immediately putting him into a hold status.  Repeat for Jean, and after both arrive at Sir William da la Pole's camp, assign Jean 9 melee troops and La Hire 9 range troops from Alencon's contingent.  Leave the Duke where he is for now.  Stop off at the shoppe, and if you have plenty of cash, start buying chickens and other food items; fill-up your arrows, also, draining your cash as much as possible but leave some room for additional charms and your soon-to-be-acquired first cross!

After that, send both Jean & La Hire (one-by-one) over to Sir William Glasdale's camp, just east of the shoppe & blacksmith; position La Hire just behind Jean.  Just do not let them get near the camp, so that they do not "attract" any English, so keep them in the "bottleneck."  Switch to Joan and quickly hit Shift-2 and then Shift-3 to put Jean & La Hire into a hold status.  Next, move Joan over to them.  Leave the Duke in Sir William da la Pole's camp, as Sir William Glasdale's camp is going to be a "tough room," and the Duke is not yet ready for heavy combat.

Time to attack Sir William Glasdale's camp.  It's SP.  If you have forgotten the routine, see above, or simply send Joan in to the camp by herself (be sure that she has the longbow) and have her attract some English; then lead them back to Jean & La Hire for their destruction.  Rinse and repeat.  Just be sure to avoid "creep" -- with each new wave of attacks, Jean & La Hire will move father and father into the camp, so move them back toward the blacksmith/shoppe after each skirmish, but be sure that they are at the vanguard.  Of to the north you will see a small contingent of English on the path leading to Alexander's camp; we'll be killing them off here soon.  An alternate strategy, one that will likely give you the biggest battle of the entire game, is to have Joan run around the entire camp, leading the throng of foot soldiers back to the army; if you do this, watch your HUD very, very closely!!

If you haven't killed them already (when fighting Sir Glasdale), you'll soon attract the attention of two 5-man squads of 3 archers and 2 polemen who are commanded by an archer and a 6-man squad of 4 knights and 2 polemen who are commanded by a knight.  After them, a 5-man squad of 3 archers and 2 polemen who are commanded by an archer await.  Two 4-man squads of English knights are further in followed by 4-man squads of infantry and then polemen, 2 leaderless polemen (who are camping out in a tent), 12 leaderless crossbowmen (who are near the center of camp), two 8-man squads of infantry are in the rear of the camp (south side), two 4-man squads of polemen, and near the north entrance of the camp, three 10-man squads of knights with a 5-man squad of 3 archers and 2 polemen who are commanded by one of the archers in the lookout.

After conquering camp "de l-eau bleue," scour it for goodies (a treasure chest with a Level 2 Seal of the Living God is on the southern side of the camp), have a peek in the tents (once again, they're empty), and a look in the central enclosure, which is also empty.  Be thorough, as some food is "hidden" in the corners of the camp.  After that, give La Hire the longbow and send him to finish off the remaining English to the north, three leaderless archers (who you saw earlier) with 3 crossbowmen and 2 polemen, also leaderless, are on the first path to the left which leads back to Alexander's camp.  After finishing these guys off, the entire map will be completely clear of English soldiers.  Once La Hire is done, retrace his path to pick up any dropped goodies; we won't be coming back to this area for the rest of the game.

Park Joan and transfer as much of La Hire's inventory as possible to her, except for the apples; then send La Hire back to the town with the priest and councillor via Alexander's camp (the path to the northwest, and have La Hire "hop on" any horse that you might have left in the path and watch his speed increase!!)  Move the Duke to the forest and replenish any lost men of La Hire and then have the latter return to the town with the priest.  Sell off all of his apples but do NOT sell any of your extra charms or any of your extra weapons.  Instead, stow them in his troop inventory and his main inventory for safe keeping.  We will be selling them off near the middle of Mission 6.

After La Hire is in the town, park him next to the councillor such that his men are to the *north* of him and switch to Jean, **quickly** putting La Hire into a hold status (Shift-3.)  Transfer all of Jean's troops to Joan and then send him due north of Sir William's camp via the lonesome blacksmith & shoppe owners to the forest to visit the Duke but do not recruit any new men.  After that, go to the town with the priest, councillor, and now, La Hire; visit the shoppe to buy all the bread and buns which he has (but do not make any more purchases of anything after this point, as we need some cash to recruit troops in the upcoming Mission 5).  After that, park yourself (Jean) next to La Hire.

Switch to Joan and quickly put Jean into a hold status, returning to Sir Glasdale's camp.  (Once again, this may not be strictly necessary, as Jean should not run-off to the Tourelles, but if you were not controlling Jean after conquering the Tourelles, Jean will likely try to run-off, as will be the case with La Hire.)  After that, time for one last look around William's camp for goodies; it's easy to miss them, so a "second pass" is always advisable, especially, at night.  Switch to z-mode for maximum visibility.  Once completed, have her head over to the shoppe owner and fill-up on bread & buns only; after that, have her visit the Duke to recruit any lost men, and after her command is full, send her over to Jean & La Hire via the path by the church.

Have Jean talk to the councillor; after that, some English will spawn in the forest.  After talking to him a second time, we need to get the English to attack the town again, so as to maximize dialogue.  To do that, send Jean north to the Tourelles; when he encounters the newly spawned English, a 4-man squad of knights, who are just off the main path in the forest, have him lead them back to the councillor to get the extra dialogue, which means, of course, talking to him (and, for kicks, the priest) as he flees into his little shelter.  Don't worry; the English cannot harm him or any of the other civilians, at least on this level.  After getting the dialogue, join La Hire & Joan for some quick combat.

It's time for an easy "search & destroy" campaign.  Jean will lead; La Hire and Joan will "manually" follow.  With three generals, this will be an *easy* campaign.  Before beginning, have Jean return to Alencon in the forest via the church (hugging the "right wall") to recruit all melee troops from the Duke's army to give Jean's new army a total of 27 men and 3 generals, provided, of course, that you have not lost too many!  Leave the Duke in the forest with Dunois & d'Illers.

The "missing citizens" are all in the forest, so head north to the Tourelles; at this point, the Duke is all done, so do not switch to him lest La Hire and Jean "run off."  Five citizens are missing, and they will appear as white dots on your map.  Go north until you reach the path to the forest (you can "chase" La Hire, if you want, as he will run toward the Tourelles, IF he is just north of the town with the priest, otherwise he will try to take the "alternate" path back to the Tourelles) and go northeast but make sure that your troop inventory is well stocked; explore all the forest (don't forget the section just south of Saint Augustine), defeat the English units (whom you sometimes can "entice" towards you by getting close to them, even though the path separates each of you), and emerge at the "racetrack."

Use SP and keep La Hire and Jean in a hold status at all times, except when moving them; let Jean lead, by only by a little bit.  Switch to Joan to move her, but when you do, be sure to put both Jean and La Hire into a hold status, as La Hire (and, perhaps, Jean, if you were not controlling him when the Tourelles fell) will want to "run off" back to the Tourelles.  Keep everyone together with Jean at the vanguard with Joan following followed by La Hire at the rear.  You'll appreciate the RTS system in Mission 5 after this mission is done!  Keep an eye on your troop inventory after each battle, and in preparation for Mission 5, keep all of your generals' troop inventories well-stocked.

The citizens are not hard to find, one will be due north just south of Saint Augustine (unreachable from that path, of course, but don't forget the English units just to the west), one is near the "racetrack" just west of the main path, the third is southeast in a "dead end" of the forest west of the Duke and just north of the houses by the church, with the remaining two in the open area northeast of the church, one in the field just behind the newly spawned English macemen, with the other being by himself on the path leading from the field back to the town with the priest and councillor.  Have Joan talk to all of the missing citizens, who will follow her wherever she goes.  (You could even lead them back to William da la Pole's camp and trap them behind the gate.)  Don't worry about the English killing these "locals"; they're indestructible.

After defeating the 4-man squad of knights, you'll encounter 4-man squads of macemen, two squads of infantry, and after them, two 4-man squads of knights, and finally, a 4-man squad of macemen in the open field.  After making this "lazy giant circle" through the winding forest, go back to the councillor.  Once you are in range of the Duke, transfer more inventory to him, if necessary, and release La Hire (and, Jean), so that he (they) can run back to the Tourelles.  (It's possible that he or Jean could pick up some "loose change" on the way.)  We need to do some housekeeping now, because we will not have time for it at the start of the next level.

Keep an eye on the sky; if turns nightfall, switch back to the Duke and have him return to Sir William Glasdale's camp for a final look.  You should not be low on cash, but we do not want to leave any gold, food, and/or charms behind.  You are about to get your first Saint Catherine cross, and we do not wish to leave it "stranded" (which could happen if your inventory is full.)  So once you talk to the councillor, pick it up, and then talk to him again for the extra dialogue (which will be a duplicate of before, but do it anyway, just in case.)  Be quick about it, though, you will be on a timer.

Mission 5 -- Cleaning up the Loire

You are back at Orleans, just outside the eastern gate.  According to the game, Orleans was supposed to be clear of the English after Mission 3; however, due north and south of your position, there are English soldiers.  The balcony is completely open, which means that if you and/or your men go up there, the English archers on the north side will start firing at you.  Likewise, you can kill the English squad just north of the Loire from the balcony to the south.  Both these units will "stay put" through Missions 5 & 6, unless, of course, you attack them.  Plenty of civilians should be up on the wall but the eastern wall should be completely clear of them.

You are in a hurry, as we need to rendezvous with Dunois & d'Illers and quickly!!  (The game will "kill them off" if you take too long.  How long, I don't know.)  In a vain effort to make the game more difficult, the developers want you to divide your commanders, sending the Duke on a solo/suicide mission to rendezvous with Dunois and then d'Illers.  Perhaps they were trying to compensate for the game's deficiencies; in any case, we will not be doing that.  Enjoy the dialogue from your commanders; we are not in too much of a hurry!

It's RTS time.  Don't waste time reviewing that; if you need practice, do so, and then reload your game.  Basically, hit F2 and then "point and click"; as I said above, just be sure to NEVER transfer troops from one commander to another, unless he (or she) is below their "leadership minimum," that is, a commander should NOT have the Seal of Antiquelis when transferring "to" OR "from" that person, NOR should he/she be above their "leadership minimum."

As an example, if Joan is commanding 12 troops (only possible with the L3 Seal of Antiquelis, since we are never increasing the "Leadership" attribute, are we?!), do NOT transfer troops from her; if she is commanding 11 troops, do not transfer troops to her.  Instead, have her get the extra men from the barracks.  You will *always* be safe doing that; if you do not follow this advice, you could mess-up the RTS system (it's a software bug), and while it is possible to get things back to normal, it's a pain doing so.  (To do so, you need to have all your commanders have their units killed-off, such that everyone is below their "leadership minimum"; after that, the RTS system MAY "work.")

For now, have everyone follow Joan.  Head due north quickly staying near the moat; we need to protect any civilians who may be wandering onto the northeastern balcony who will then be in range of an English archer (who WILL kill them if they venture onto the balcony) who is camping-out on the northeast side of Orleans along with his pals.  For having "cleared the area," ostensibly on Mission 3, there are sure a lot of English about!

As you go north, you will encounter them, first, a group of 3 infantrymen, followed by another 3-man infantry group; then, a 4-man infantry group, all leaderless and all Englishmen.  At this point, they have *no* interest in attacking Orleans!  Continuing north you will encounter six archers, one of which is standing on the edge of the eastern mote!  (Don't worry; he, like you, can't fall in.)  Making a "hard right," you will encounter a full squad of 5 English infantrymen.  Use your bow and let your army do the melee work; when finished, do not venture into any of the three paths; instead, return to the east gate.

"Off you go" through the eastern gate into Orleans.  You can close it if you wish and you should; however, it doesn't matter, as the English will *not* enter Orleans ever again, nor will they even try, unless you *lead* them into the city.  Try to keep any civilians from wandering out of the gate; you can push on them to send them in a different direction.  If they do get out, no big deal; the English will *probably* not kill them.  Once the gate is closed, quickly run and exit out of the south gate; close it after your generals and men pass through.  (For "historical consistency" and "realism," I will keep all castle gates closed at all times.)

Head due south toward the two small bridges; go a little slow, so as to keep your army together.  While waiting for them, face southwest and hit F2, wait for the camera to "pan back" and then hit F2 again; the camera should do a "spin shot" and you may see Meung in the distance (depending on the weather), a castle that you will conquer in Mission 6.  A small skirmish awaits; use your bow to dispatch the 3 leaderless crossbowmen, and let your other commanders and troops do the melee work against the leaderless group of 5 polemen, 2 Burgundian infantry, and 3 knights.  The "gods" have put some wooden barricades to prevent you from venturing into Mission 6.  You can kill the English on the other side of those barricades.  Do NOT do that.  Off in the distance are some blue dots, captured French units whom you will easily liberate in Mission 6.

Head east.  Another wooden gate and 3 leaderless crossbowmen await followed by 3 leaderless macemen.  Rinse and repeat using SP.  Inch forward and you will see two squads of English knights, an 8-man squad and a 6-man one.  Entice them with your bow, and then decimate them.  Fire one arrow at a time, squad (50/50 chance on the smaller), then the other.  Going into  direct battle will cost you some men, so do not do that; let them come to you.  If you begin to lose men (it's probably inevitable), beginning assigning men to the Duke, so that Joan is alone, as she should nearly always be at the vanguard!

Off to your left (north) is Orleans; you can see the English group of 3 archers and 3 infantry, all leaderless, camped-out southeast of Orleans and even use explosive or regular arrows to kill them; it's a waste of time, though.  Dunois is due south; you can see his fleurs-de-lys on your long-range map.  A French squad is in captivity, the fleurs-de-lys of their commander ("Othon Fevre") indicates their location; we'll get to them later.

Switch to z-mode and head south; off in the distance is a fleurs-de-lys, that of Dunois.  Stay right and kill the 2 archers and the 2 crossbowmen behind them; ditto for the 3 archers who are across the path (let them run around after the first hit, then kill them after they come to a stop) along with the 6 so leaderless English infantrymen who will charge at you.  Follow-up with 3 more archers and then 3 crossbowmen, all leaderless, and the area should be clear.  After that, head over to Dunois; his fauconneaus will by this time be clearly visible in the distance and you should be wondering why he never bothered to fire a single shot!

He wants you to take the "long way" to Jargeau; we will, of course, not be doing that.  Hit F2 and assign Dunois ONLY (leave his fauconneaus where they are) to the Duke; then hit Shift-4 to put the Duke into a hold status and assign a good mixture of your melee troops to Dunois, who can command nine soldiers (they'll be serving as his bodyguards).  Head *due* east; 3 leaderless crossbowmen await you; to your right (south) is a town with a special sword for you, which we will be picking up later on in Meung in Mission 6, as it will "reappear" there.  Hug the "left wall" so as not to attract the attention of the English.  They should not attack you, unless, of course, you attack them first!  Leave the Duke where he is.

Off in the distance toward the southeast is yet another fleurs-de-lys, that of d'Illers (if you can't see it, then he's dead, so you will have to reload Mission 5, or at least an earlier save; if you are forced to reload Mission 5, don't worry about clearing the archers just northeast of Orleans), who is awaiting you.  The computer controls d'Illers, which means that his potential actions are "in the stars" (or, the random number generator that Enlight uses.)  Sometimes, d'Illers will attack Jargeau all by his lonesome long before you reach him, which means, of course, his instant death.  In other instances, a lone English soldier will run from the castle toward him, finishing him off.  In either case, you will lose the objective and a "Big Red X" will appear on your objectives list.

Seem unfair?  Yes, indeed it is, so after meeting up with Dunois, save your game.  Then, proceed until you meet up with d'Illers; if he is killed, either by his own efforts or those of the English, just reload your game.  I have never had to reload more than several times, so you should be "good to go," if d'Illers ends-up "biting the dust."  If he does die, he will either meet his fate by either by attacking Jargeau or having an English soldier "sweep down" to kill him; either scenario, if such happens, can be viewed on your long-range map.

When you come to the "4-way," 3 leaderless knights keep guard and a 7-man squad of English knights will be due south, to your right.  After finishing-off the first group, lob an arrow at the latter to draw their attention; then finish them off.  If you do not do this, then they will attack your army from the rearguard as other enemies attack you at the vanguard.  If this happens, no big deal, but you may lose some men, so don't do it.  If d'Illers is still alive, hit F5 for a quick save.  Now would be a good time to verify your troop inventories; as always, make sure that each of your commanders has a "column of bread" and a "column of buns."

Continue southeast; if you see d'Illers get killed, simply reload your game.  Hit Shift-4 to bring the Duke & Dunois forward; be sure to keep them in view on your long-range map but not too close that they enter into the fray.  Several leaderless Burgundians are in your path followed by 2 and then 3 leaderless English macemen.  Finish them off and move towards d'Illers.  Don't get too close (stop when you encounter a round wooden crate) to d'Illers, otherwise, you will trigger the cutscene.  We don't want Dunois getting killed; that's a spoiler.

When you "round the curve," hit F2 and move Dunois right up to d'Illers, along with his bodyguards.  If he is not "within the box," d'Illers will complain, saying how he "misses him" (or something like that.)  This is a divergent path in the game; you can't get both dialogues (unless you reload your game), so move Dunois close so that d'Illers can exchange "compliments" with him.  Put everyone into a hold status, hit F5 to save your game, and then move towards d'Illers & Dunois to trigger the cutscene.  The alternate dialogue is one of d'Illers "missing" Dunois, so no big deal if you don't move Dunois forward; in fact, alternate when you play the game over!

After d'Illers' cutscene, the 5 cannons will attack Jargeau; why they do this is beyond me, but they do; it's scripted.  Ready for some "quick fingers"?  Hit F2, then hit '-' (the minus key, or middle-mouse button) repeatedly, make a box around all 5 cannons (include Joan, Dunois & d'Illers if necessary), and then quickly select a point due west of the Duke on the narrow path.  Hopefully, this will prevent the cannons from attacking Jargeau; they are slow, so you should not have any problem "pulling them back."  (If the cannons head into the battlefield, reload your game.)  When they are moving west along the short path, select each cannon separately and "scatter" them along the path towards the west so that their "fog of war" is overlapping.  Keep them on the path that you cleared, so they are not decimated by the English, so do not position any cannon west of the "4-way," not yet at least.

At this time, you could end this mission by attacking Jargeau and conquering it.  You would lose some objectives, plus, you would not be able to rescue "Lucien," the lost boy, due to a software glitch.  One advantage to ending the mission is that you would be able to fight more with Arthur de Richemont.  Since the objective of this walkthrough is to complete all the objectives which the game has to offer, I would suggest not doing that.  It's just a "fyi" for you to consider.

Assign Dunois & d'Illers back to the Duke.  Head back to the 4-way and put the Duke into a hold status.  To the south is a special town (Chateaudun) with a new, special sword, the "Lord of Kings," a Level-6 sword, which, if you pick it up now, you'll be using for a *long* time.  You don't have to conquer the town now; you could wait until the end of Mission 6 to do so, which will give you an opportunity to continue to fight with your existing sword.  If you don't pick up the new sword here, it will "reappear" in Mission 6, in Meung, and a charm will "replace" it in the town.  Six civilians will appear after you conquer the town; there is a small risk that they could be killed, especially, the little boy, which is one advantage to conquering the town later.  Since it is difficult to impossible to mitigate that, wait to conquer the town in Mission 6.

Go back to the 4-way and head due north but go slow, so as not to become separated from your army.  Move the Duke forward but leave him near the four-way.  Time to rescue your first French captain/general.  Othon and his men are just west of the barracks, an easy find.  Enjoy the cutscene and then defeat *all* of the English, which will include a 5-man squad of polemen and a 5-man squad of knights with a somewhat smaller squad further north.  Both groups are together, one group near the center of town, with the other group near the northwest side.  Fight each group separately; the latter group will be a 8-man squad of 2 polemen and 6 knights who are commanded by a knight.

After conquering the town, St-Aignor, head to the northwest *before* releasing Othon and his men; a leaderless group of 3 English macemen await you, a small skirmish.  Once the town and northwest path are clear, release the Duke, and *closely* follow his progress on your long-range map.  If he goes "berserk" and starts to head in a wrong direction, quickly hit Shift-4, go to him and "lead" him to safety.  (Do this throughout the game, as the RTS system, as I have mentioned, sometimes goes "nuts.")  A treasure chest is just to the west of the barracks, which contains a L2 Tiger's eye gem; pick that up and smash the crates further west.

Pick up the cell key from the dead English poleman captain (if you haven't done so already), and pass it to La Hire.  To maximize dialogue, you (Joan) try to open the cell door, then have Jean make an "attempt," finally, have La Hire open it and then the other door as well, which will cause the key to "disappear" from La Hire's inventory; enjoy the brief cutscene.  Once freed, assign Othon Fevre to the Duke but do NOT assign his men to you and/or your generals.  Do NOT venture to the east; you are "asking for trouble" if you do.  Instead, head-up the path once again toward the northwest; we're going back to Orleans.  When you reach the river, move two of Dunois' fauconneaus north towards the Loire, spacing them out.

Once back in Orleans, time for a little R&R; send the three captains (Dunois, d'Illers & Othon) to the NORTH gate, where they will remain inactive for this, Mission 6, and for that matter, the rest of the game, and reassign all of Dunois' men back to one of your commanders (keep using Joan for any "spare" men.)  Make sure the south gate is closed, so no civilians wander out.  Assign as many men as you can to the Duke (note that he has the highest leadership capacity of 13 troops without the Seal of Antiquelis); pass him the Seal of Antiquelis (so that he can command 15 troops) before assigning him men.  (Do NOT use RTS to do this!  Switch to the Duke and have him recruit each man individually.)  Visit the shoppe and blacksmith; they will say the same line, so they have no "extra" dialogue for you.  Do NOT sell them anything; in fact, sell *nothing* for all of Mission 5, the sole and only exception being apples.

The western drawbridge is fixed; you can go out there and close it, if you wish.  If you do, there is a significant risk (due to another game bug) that you will not be able to lower it using the RTS mode, roughly, a 50-50 chance.  If this happens, you will have to switch to another commander to let you back in; if you have been foolish enough to take your entire army outside the western moat, the game would be unplayable at that point, and you will need to reload.  You can also fire at the English squad who is just beyond the wooden fence (sent by the gods); they will come up to the fence in a vain attempt to attack you where you can kill them with your bow.  If you do this, you will lose a cutscene for Mission 6.

Explore Orleans as you did in Mission 2 to get the goodies, when means exploring it as if it were a maze.  (As before, don't forget to check "behind" the blacksmith.)  None of the civilians will talk to you.  Be sure to visit the "latrine" in the barracks, which is now "open".  Note the new "invisible wall" just northeast of the shoppe that was not present in Mission 2 along with subtle changes in path contours and width.  Some empty wooden crates are out-of-reach behind a fence, but you can shoot them if you stand "5 to 10 feet" behind the fence.  Stay off the balcony for now.  When finished, hit F2 to go into RTS mode and do a quick scan of the entire city to see if you missed anything.  When done, exit out of the eastern gate, but be sure to close it, so no civilians wander out.  We're back where we started.

Hit F2 to go back into RTS mode; we are going to prepare to save a little boy, whose name is Lucien Escuier.  First left-click, then right-click on the barracks, and "buy" 10 light-infantry; after that, send them *due* north (keep them within Orleans, of course) but *FAR AWAY* from the three captains (Dunois, d'Illers, and Orthon), as we do not want them "joining up" with those captains, which they will do if they get too close to them.  Buy 10 heavy infantrymen, and do the same; but keep each 10-man squad separate from the others.  Don't worry about "the money"; we need to draw it down to get some additional dialogue for Mission 6, and these men that you are buying will be available for all of Mission 5 & 6.

Orleans has 400 men ready for action, but at most 20 will be "available" at any given time.  Until then, time for some more fighting, so head due south and kill the leaderless small group of English composed of 3 infantrymen and 3 archers.  When they are dead, face due south across the Loire and then hit F2; notice how you will, for an instant, be able to clearly see in the distance, Dunois' northernmost fauconneau being clearly visible.  Hit F2 again for a cool "camera pan" on Joan.  We will, by the way, be doing this throughout the game.  Once done, assign via RTS all of your (Joan) remaining men to one or more of your three captains at the North gate; Joan is going solo!

Head due north; the path should, of course, be completely clear.  After reaching the northeastern balcony, you are faced with "three paths."  Take the one *closet* to Orleans, that is, the one that is "farthest right."  Assuming that you did not take them out earlier, you will soon encounter a somewhat elusive 6-man squad of English infantrymen, who, unlike most squads, will not run directly at you!  Farther down the path will be a helpless and leaderless group of 3 knights; after them, a more aggressive 5-man squad of Burgundian infantry.  After encountering the latter, put all your generals into a hold status, and verify your troop inventory.

Time to visit Lucien's Mom & Dad ("Claire & Capellarius") for some dialogue.  Go southeast until you come a fork and then "keep right."  Enjoy the dialogue and then head-up the hill into the town of Rouvray.  Lucien's Mom & Dad are at the far, southeast end.  Talk to both of them (repeat, just to be sure), and then lead the trailing 8-man English squad of 4 knights and 4 polemen who are commanded by a knight back to your generals; they'll be joined by a 4-man group of leaderless infantry who will run-up from the path below.

After decimating them in a nasty skirmish, return to the fork and do **NOT** talk to Lucien's parents again.  In fact, wait to  enter Rouvray to "officially liberate" it; when you do later on, five civilians will spawn, none of whom will talk to you anyway.  Not to worry; we'll be catching-up with Lucien's parents later, and we do not want to risk the English killing any of the civilians, although, they should be ignored.

At the fork, go northeast; time to liberate the town of Checy.  You will almost immediately encounter a leaderless 5-man group of English macemen.  Eliminate them and then follow the curving path northeast and then as it loops around to the south.  Put your generals into a hold status just prior to entering Checy.  A 5-man squad of English knights will come-out of the town; after that, a 5-man squad of polemen.  Lead both groups, one at a time, back to your generals.

After defeating the English guarding Checy, go into the town and either sniper the large contingent of archers from afar, or better yet, lead your army into the awaiting English swarm.  (As a general rule, as long as you have a "2 to 1" advantage and at least eight food items in each general's troop inventory, you should be okay.)  Two 6-man English squads, one of knights & the other polemen, await you near the south entrance, who will rush to attack.  If you release your generals for a melee assault, be sure to watch your troop inventory.  Or to play it safe, lead the English back to your men for the slaughter.  The archer commander, Captain Aleyn Manton, will drop a letter after he dies, the contents of which will seem strange if you have waited to conquer this area until the end of Mission 6, so read the letter which he was going to deliver but which you now have.

After the town is yours, "hug" the eastern wall to attract the attention of 3 leaderless English macemen just over the hill if they have not already died with their comrades; wait for them to come around (they will likely have already joined the melee assault, coming late of course!), one less group of English to contend with.  Scour Checy for goodies; a treasure chest contains yet another Black Star Opal, a chicken is in a crate behind a building to the northwest, along with some other goodies scattered around town.  Hit F2 to have a look around for any dropped items which the dead English have left behind.

Off in the distance to the south is "poor" Lucien.  Don't worry about him; he's in "prisoner mode," which means that he cannot move, other than to face you.  A leaderless group of 5 English infantrymen are around the corner; attract their attention and then lead them to your generals.  Farther around the corner are a leadership group of 4 archers; sniper them 1-by-1 from afar.  When done, put all of your generals into a hold status.  Note that if some of your men stray too far east (which is likely), you'll attract the attention of a substantial number of enemy units (also likely); no problem for your army, but read ahead to see who these fellas are.  Just try to stay as far west as possible.

Time to get some more units for his upcoming rescue, so send Joan to the first small bridge (and not beyond!) which spans the Loire, hit F2, and then recruit 5 light infantrymen and then 5 heavy-infantrymen (if enough men are available) from the barracks at St-Aigno; move them via RTS to the west part of town and keep them separate.  Say goodbye to Lucien for now and then head east towards Rouvray, this time to officially liberate it (note the "war music", even though no enemies are around!); once again, do NOT talk to Lucien's Mom & Dad!  Instead, get "in range" of Orleans and recruit 10 macemen and 10 polemen; park them as separate groups to the north but south of the others, and keep them, of course, *away* from the French commanders.

Scour Rouvray for goodies; a L2 Alexandrite charm is in a treasure chest next to the eastern fence which, as far as I can tell, will do absolutely nothing for you (not true, it *does* help), so store it in La Hire's inventory (or, better yet, use it in your #4 charm slot).  When done, return to the first small bridge just south of Lucien and recruit 5 heavy-infantrymen from the St-Aigno barracks if not enough men were available on your first visit.

After that, head east back towards your men; after reaching them, take a "hard left" (north) and head to the town (Fontainebleau -- no kidding!  Update:  "Fountainbleau" is a city in Florida and "Fontainebleau" is in France) with the "four-way" intersection.  You'll almost immediately encounter a leaderless group of 4 Burgundian infantrymen.  While fighting them, a 5-man squad of English macemen from around the corner will join the fray.  Just off in the distance is a large 8-man squad of English knights; venture over to attract their attention, and once they are dead, return to the path leading northeast to the "four-way" intersection.

Head northeast up the path to Fontainebleau, hugging the "right wall" (you may have to move "up and down" against the wall to attract the "attention" of the English) and you will attract a 5-man squad of English infantrymen on the other side who should attack you from the rearguard, one less unit to deal with later.  (A 5-man group of English knights or "heavy infantry" is farther up the path; they won't attack you.)  To your right (east) is another fleurs-de-lys, another French captain waiting to be rescued.  We'll be getting to him later on, and he will be the last captain whom we recruit for this mission.  For now, continue northwest to the small English town of Fontainebleau; a 5-man squad of Burgundian infantry awaits.

When you get close to the town, you will get some action, two squads of mixed soldiers.  First, a 5-man squad of infantrymen will attack you followed by a 7-man squad of polemen and 2 knights, who are commanded by a poleman.  After defeating them, the town will be yours.  Explore the town if you wish, which has one of the smallest "footprints" in the entire game; a L1 Citrine Spiral Pendant is in "the shed," with some crates scattered about.  Note the "four-way" intersection; we'll be passing through Fontainebleau again here very soon but on the path leading to the northwest of your position.

Continuing to the northeast, you'll immediately encounter a 7-man squad of 4 archers and 3 crossbowmen who are commanded by an archer; they are guarding a cache of explosive arrows and bolts on a short hill just outside of town.  Engage them and another 7-man squad of 5 polemen and 2 knights, who are commanded by a poleman, will attack you.  (As I said before, these fellas will "stand around" all through Missions 5 & 6, even after the English commanders have all "fled to the north.")  Don't forget the explosive arrows & bolts on the short inlet path just outside of town to your right.  Head due west back to the 3-way path to the east of Orleans, where you defeated the large group of archers earlier.

This time take the "middle path," but before you do, hit F2 and recruit 10 archers and 10 crossbowmen and park them in their own separate groups south of the polemen.  Continue southeast on the "middle path" back to Fontainebleau; a 5-man leaderless group of English knights await you, yet another easy victory for you and your generals.  (I hope that you now know that I "was right" about keeping you and your generals in *one* group!)  Curve around to the northeast and pass through Fontainebleau (again) and keep going straight, "along the diagonal."  After passing through town, you'll encounter a leaderless group of 5 macemen.

After defeating them, take "the first right" (southeast) and hug the "left wall"; eventually you'll get a message from Louis Barbier, whom you will be meeting soon.  Before that, you'll encounter that 5-man squad of English knights who were "across the hill" on your way to Fontainebleau.  After defeating them, go to the end of the path and "loop around" (do **not** go to the southeast; you'll be eliminating those English here very soon -- don't worry, they will not move) to meet a 5-man English squad of infantrymen just around the corner; just before that, you will have gotten a message from La Hire stating the obvious.  Park everyone and have Joan return to the first bridge over the Loire to recruit five macemen from the barracks at St-Aigno; park them next to the others.

Return and head north with your army; time to rescue Louis.  Before entering the path, you'll be attacked by another 5-man English infantry squad from the east and another 5-man one after entering the path.  The path splits, so keep left (west).  The path to the right (east) will be empty.  You will meet a 7-man squad of 5 polemen and 2 knights, who are commanded by a poleman; let Jean go first, so "pull back" when you get close.  Make sure that all your generals are healthy and your troop inventory is well-stocked, and after decimating this mixed squad, go after a 5-man squad of knights just ahead (north), their backs towards you.  After this, hand the prison key to La Hire (after picking it up, of course; just look for the flashing 'X' if you need to -- you shouldn't), try opening a cell door, then have Jean have a go at it; finally have La Hire open all the doors.

The prison is, apparently, "owned & operated" by the town of Checy, which may "explain" that town's large "fog of war" on the map, even though the town is "two paths" over.  Visit, briefly, with Louis via the cutscene, but leave him where he is!!  (Don't worry, he will be perfectly safe.)  Manually assign his men to any of your commanders who may need troops (none should, as all of your men should be alive) and leave the rest with him.  Head north, but as soon as your generals are clear of the prison, put them into a hold status.

You will come to the northern edge of the map; to your left will be a large 8-man mixed squad of English consisting of 6 infantrymen and 2 knights, who are commanded by an infantryman.  Lead them back to your generals and decimate them.  Just be sure that Louis does *not* join in the fun.  After they are gone, continue north alone and sniper the small leaderless group of three archers who are facing west.  Release your generals from their hold status, and when they have joined you, two English leaderless macemen will attack, a effortless victory.  After they are dead, return to Fontainebleau to verify that the area is clear (it should be) and then return to Louis and scour the area for goodies; when done, head back north and take the path to your right and head east.  You will almost immediately encounter two leaderless Burgundian infantry.

Round the little loop and head south.  You will encounter a very small group of two knights, then a group of three crossbowmen, all leaderless.  As you continue south, you will encounter a mixed squad of six knights & two polemen, who are commanded by a knight, as well as two infantrymen who are not part of that gang.  Hug the left/eastern wall as you head south to reveal some more enemies and off in the distance way to the southeast is another fleurs-de-lys, the final commander to be rescued.

Keep hugging the left wall, you'll encounter 3 leaderless crossbowmen, and soon after them, you will attract the attention of two infantrymen (without a leader, of course) followed by two more, followed by a group of three English macemen, also leaderless.  A small skirmish awaits as you head south to the Loire; concentrate on the five leaderless archers and let the rest of your men finish-off the 5-man squad of knights.  Off in the distance is Jargeau; time for a short breather, so hit F2, and if you have followed my advice on the game's configuration, you should get a nice view of the Loire, its bottom, and the trees reflecting off its surface, along with a lovely reflection of Joan against the waters!  If it is night, watch as the scene briefly turns into day!

When done, head north back from where you came and take the path just to the right.  Once you enter the winding path, head due east until the short-end of the side-path; you'll attract the attention of two leaderless macemen due north (who may have attacked you just earlier), followed by a 6-man squad of knights, followed by five more leaderless macemen.  Wind your way up through the path, which is lit by perpetual torches.  After "snaking" your way to the upper hill, head straight north; a leaderless 2-man group of knights await you.  Hit one of them with the bow and then decimate them when they approach.  Next comes a leaderless 3-man group of crossbowmen along with three leaderless macemen; rinse and repeat.  Next, a group of several idle archers await; take them out one-by-one.

See the barrel to the right?  Go smash it.  When you do, a 5-man squad of macemen will "sense" you from the path far below you and will rush up through Saint florent Le-Saumur to attack you.  Two archers are lurking just below, but after getting the explosive bolts, join your men before killing them.  After that, join the fray with the macemen.  Then, go due southeast to the fence.  See the row of three archers?  Send four or five arrows to each of them who are within reach, but as before, be care of "blow-back," as each archer will "step back" after being hit with by an arrow.  They will stand there until you kill them all.  Put all your generals into a hold status; a big fight awaits.

Due north is a leaderless group of 3 English knights; go get their attention and lead them back to your men for a merciless slaughter.  You can go north to the fence, if you wish, but there is nothing up there.  Hit F2 to get a glimpse of "the void" if you wish; you'll be able to do that for all the remaining levels (it looks the same, of course.)  Down the hill are some crossbowmen who will take "pot shots" at you if you get too close to the fence to your right.

With your men in a hold status, head down the hill to the squads below, but stop well short of them, and when you are in range of the two leaderless crossbowmen, take them out one by one.  Just beyond them is a third crossbowman but ignore him for now; instead, fire a sole arrow at the mixed 8-man squad of four knights and four polemen, who are commanded by a knight, and then quickly retreat back up the hill.  After a brief skirmish, continue down the hill until you are in range of the third crossbowman, and after finishing him off, position yourself to attack the five macemen in the town below but keep away from the three Burgundian soldiers.

Even though they are without a leader, they will attack you as a group after getting close enough to them.  Once you've done that, fire a quick arrow at one of the Burgundian infantrymen, and without waiting for it to hit its target, head back up the hill.  Another quick skirmish, but as before and always, be at the vanguard but not ahead of any of your men, just "a step" in front of them and pull back if you start to take damage while keeping an eye on their health, also!  Make sure that everyone's troop inventories contain some rations (except, of course, for yours, as you have no men under your command, not yet, at least).  Rinse and repeat with the remaining two Burgundian infantrymen.

Once they are gone, head back down the hill and sniper the three archers in the town from the fence.  You will be able to see at least one English knight behind a building, however, the structure will block any of your arrows; instead, stay left and go up to the fence.  You'll attract the attention of two leaderless knights, who will follow you back up the hill to their doom.  At least one archer will be a tad smarter and will follow you part away before shooting at your army.  After killing them, do a quick "peek-a-boo" to get the attention of two more leaderless knights, and after leading them back up the hill, release all of your commanders and head into the town of Saint florent Le-Saumur.  Four leaderless archers and four leaderless knights await you.

The town is full of goodies -- arrows, regular and explosive, and some bolts (save the latter until the later missions.)  Once you have conquered it, six townsmen will appear, all "out of thin air," if you are looking north.  Three of them are happy to talk to you, including, a priest.  As before, you will be able to talk to them in Mission 6, if you wish (which is my preference.)  After you leave town, they will start spreading out on the map, so you will have to look for them later if you do not talk to them now.  The priest will give you a worthless Malachite, which you can sell-off late in Mission 6.

Head south toward the next town, Chateaunet, but park your commanders just outside of the town.  If and when you encounter any of the leaderless group of archers (you should have killed them already), bring your men forward after killing them.  Ahead are a leaderless group of 3 macemen followed by another leaderless group of 3 knights.  Approach them and then lead them back to your commanders.  Next is a squad of 4 polemen and 4 knights, who are commanded by a knight who has the jail cell key.  Rinse and repeat.  Take-out the three crossbowmen who will not follow you and continue south without your men but make sure that your three commanders are next to each other.  ("Release & hold" to accomplish this.)  Make sure that La Hire or the Duke has the dropped key.

Head south towards Jargeau.  Talk to the imprisoned French squad for some dialogue and then pick up the L2 Quartz crystal in the treasure chest just to your right and pass it back to Jean.  (Everyone now should have a L1 or L2 quartz crystal.)  Head into Chateaunet until you encounter 2 leaderless Burgundian infantrymen and 2 leaderless knights; lead them back north to your men.  Move your men forward to the jail cells, park them, and go south until you encounter an English squad of 4 polemen and 4 knights, who are commanded by a poleman.  Rinse and repeat but keep your men well north of Chateaunet's central tower (preferably, just south of the jail cells), so be sure to avoid creep.

Head back into town to attract the attention of a 5-man squad of English polemen, a leaderless group of 4 English archers, and finally, another 5-man English polemen squad just north of the bridge.  Lead the melee troops back to your men and sniper the archers; after that, three civilians will appear out of nowhere.  Talk to them now, if you wish or later on in Mission 6, which is my preference.  Head up onto the bridge until you trigger a cutscene from the English infantry captain who is blocking your path, along with some additional dialogue from La Hire & William da la Pole!  (He's not happy to see you but we'll catch-up with him later!)  Quickly retreat, as you will be hit by a barrage of arrows from the castle walls.  Lead the willing 5-man English infantry squad back up to your men and decimate them.  If you wish, return to clear-out some more enemy troops, or you can have Jean do that later; in any case, do NOT cross the bridge to the west!

Don't worry about the 3 civilians; they'll be okay.  View them on RTS mode if you wish and then go north to the jail cells.  To maximize dialogue, have Joan try to open one of the cell doors, followed by Jean; finally, pass the key from the Duke (or La Hire) to Joan, and have her open the door to Alard Harrier's cell.  Enjoy the brief cutscene and watch the screen as you instantly satisfy a number of objectives, rendering the next message meaningless (that you acquire "80 men").  Open all the remaining cell doors (don't forgot those on the back of the jail house) and then hit F2, assign Alard to follow Joan, and then have everyone head north.

Visit Saint florent Le-Saumur again, picking-up any left-over goodies, and then wind your way back up the hill and back down the path, preferably, being in RTS mode all the way (but be sure to "point and click" a short distance along your intended path, as the RTS system is NOT accurate!), so that you can easily spot any goodies lying about.  Don't be too concerned about goodies, as we will be visiting this area one last time in Mission 6.  When finished scouring, head over right next to Louis Barbier, and assign him to follow you.  (Once again, do NOT use the RTS system to assign a commander who is far away from you.)  Visit Lucien, hit F2 and recruit 5 polemen from the barracks at St-Aignor.

Put all your commanders in a hold status, pass the Seal of Antiquelis from the Duke (which should be in his inventory and not in his charm bucket) to you and then head back to Orleans with the two remaining French captains; enter the eastern gate but stay south and go west, passing just north of the barracks.  Stay away from the leaderless squads to your north, else, you and your French captains will start recruiting them.  After going way to the west (just to be safe, near the blacksmith), take the captains north and park them at the northern gate, along with Dunois, d'Illers and Fevre.  Leave their men with them, for now, and head over to the shoppe to sell-off ONLY your apples, and nothing else.  (We need to clear some space in your inventory.)

Head back out the eastern gate and go south to the Loire until you are in "communication range" of your men, which will require you moving La Hire a bit to the west toward Rouvray.  (Be sure to put him back into a hold status, otherwise, he will take the "long way" around towards you and be attacked!)  Get all their apples and head back to the shoppe; after selling these off, buy as many regular arrows as you can, and then head back out the eastern gate.  (You need only talk to the shoppe owner and blacksmith one time to get all the available dialogue; we'll be repeating this again for Mission 6.)  Go south again and you should be in range of the town of St-Aignor and its barracks.  Recruit 5 archers, but as before, keep them in separate groups on the *west* side of town.  The RTS will be a bit clunky, as you will be operating it near the edge of its range, so use '+' and '-' as is necessary.

Once you are done recruiting, head back into the eastern gate of Orleans and go south to the barracks and head west, staying away from your newly-minted men just to the north.  Take a "long route" if you wish and work your way to the north gate.  Remember that if you venture out of the western gate and close the drawbridge behind you, you may lock yourself out, and if you shoot at the English on the other side of the fence, you will likely miss-out on a Mission 6 cutscene, as well as negating the "spawning" of some additional enemies, so don't do that!  If you'd like a "quick peek" at some of the upcoming enemies in Mission 6, head to the southwest corner of Orleans and use RTS mode to see some of the soldiers stationed in Meung and elsewhere!

Once you are at the northern gate, move the Seal of Antiquelis to your charm bucket and then recruit some men from the French captains, but make sure that you have an equal mix of polemen and infantry.  Use the barracks at Orleans, if necessary, but once you have "maxed-out," move the Seal of Antiquelis back to inventory, replacing it with the previous charm, and then head back to the eastern gate, leaving it open if it is clear of civilians.  Head south again to recruit 5 crossbowmen from St-Aignor, but as you do, move your 60-man force out of Orleans along the path just east of the city, squad by squad.  This will take some time, which will allow you to recruit your 5 crossbowmen from St-Aignor, if the barracks needs some more "staffing."  Park them just to the west of the barracks.

Once the squads are in place, go and shut the eastern gate (if civilians are near the gate, you'll need to push on them until they are clear of it; if any civilians are wandering in the area outside of Orleans, it is possible to push them into the city), and head back to your commanders.  Once there, get everyone out of follow mode by going into RTS and positioning each of your commanders a tiny distance from where they are at.  After that switch to La Hire, go to the second bridge across the Loire (the "south one"), and go back into RTS; finish recruiting at St-Aignor, if necessary, until you have a squad of 30 men.  It's time to move everyone into position!

When you rescue Lucien, a massive English assault will occur, a nasty one (those "English bastards!" to quote Orleans, himself a "bastard.")  Think of Lucien's position as being a 4-way.  To the south will be La Hire and his men, located on the second, most southern bridge with his men just behind him (but make sure that La Hire is at the halfway point on the bridge facing south), and behind him, on the small island, will be a 5-man squad of polemen, immediately followed by a 5-man infantry squad (place them "in the gaps"), followed by 5 macemen, 5 knights, 5 crossbowmen; finally, station the 5 archers on the first bridge just south of Lucien.  Everyone else should be on the island.

To the west will be Joan and her squad, and to the east will be Jean and his men; Joan facing west, Jean facing east.  Position both of them so that they are just beyond the "line of sight" from Lucien with their men behind them.  Eventually, the Duke will be just north of Lucien, and he should be able to see both Joan & Jean, with his men behind him to his north.  Verify your troop inventory at this point; each of your four commanders should have a column of buns and a column of bread, for a total of 8 items.  If not, have the Duke go back to Orleans to buy the necessary foodstuffs after you are doing positioning your troops.

As with the 30-man squad, repeat the same formation with the 60-man squad.  To the north at the 'top' of the 4-way (keep them well south of Fontainebleau, the first row being just behind the big tree), have a curved row of 10 polemen, followed by 10 infantrymen just behind them "in the gaps."  Next, have a 'second' curved row some distance from the first closer to Lucien, this time consisting of a row 10 macemen immediately followed by 10 knights who, as before, are stationed "in the gaps."  Finally, have 10 crossbowmen immediately followed by 10 archers.  At this point, the rows will be getting a bit "tight," but that's a good thing.  Just make sure that the archers are stationed just in front of Lucien; he'll need them for protection.

Switch to the Duke, and put everyone else into a Hold status.  If the Duke does not have 15 men, make sure that he has the Seal of Antiquelis is his inventory and ONLY in his inventory and that he is NOT (repeat, NOT!) using it as a charm, not yet at least.  Send the Duke back to the eastern Gate, pass the Seal of Antiquelis to his charm inventory, open the gate, (don't use RTS!), enter and follow Joan's previous path to the north gate, and then assign some additional men to the Duke or get them from the barracks.  Retrace your steps, close the gate, and move the charm back into the Duke's inventory, switching it with whatever charm you switched it with.  Of course, if the Duke already had 15 men, you can step this step.

Finally, go talk to Lucien's Mom & Dad; it does not matter which one you talk to first.  (Be sure to REPEAT at least once for the additional dialogue!)  Once this happens, Lucien will lose his "prisoner" status and will be "armed and ready."  Go back to him, but BEFORE talking to him, recruit 2 additional polemen from St-Aignor; have them stand on each side of Lucien, one to his northwest and one to his northeast, just in case he gets "antsy" and starts to move.  Sometimes he will remain mostly still; other times he will "make a break for it" and will move very rapidly to the side of you.  Switch to z-mode immediately after you talk to him will help you keep in front him, more importantly, keep your "collision box" in front of his.  It will only take a single blow, bolt, or arrow for the English to kill Lucien, in which case, you'll get a message "The child has died."

Switch to the short-range map and talk to Lucien.  Enjoy the cutscene; Lucien's lost and you're going to bring him back to his Mama & Papa.  Don't sweat it; your job is easy.  Once you talk to him, watch the "sea of red" magically appear on your short-range map.  The "British are coming," and they are coming in force.  Your job is simple -- keep in front of Lucien (that is, keep north of him) and enjoy the action in front of you.  Some intense fighting is going to occur, especially, behind you, but you will have enough men, and once the archers & crossbowmen start firing, it's over for the English.

A bunch of enemies will start to attack from the west; let Joan pursue and destroy.  Just keep an eye on all of your commander's health and hit F1 to transfer to check on everyone's troop food supply, just in case someone is running low.  You will lose some men in this battle; after all, your 92-plus leaderless army will have no ability to replenish itself.  It's difficult to say how many English will be attacking you, at least 30 men in all, probably, multiple 5-man units each of infantry, macemen and crossbowmen.  Why such a large force for a young peasant child is beyond me!  I have never witnessed the child dying and have no plans to.

After things settle down, switch to Joan and send her west back to Lucien's parents, with La Hire following; however, leave all your other commanders where they are at.  A short battle with a leaderless group of six English knights await followed by a leaderless 6-man group of Burgundian infantry, a quick and painless death for the English and Burgundians.  Have her "stand watch" at the entrance to Rouvray and then switch back to the Duke to lead poor Lucien home.  (Note that unlike the wagon in Mission 4, Lucien will follow you wherever you go!)  Enjoy the brief cutscenes and be part of it, if you wish; just be sure to stay out of Lucien's family compound, as you will risk getting "stuck" in a map texture.  (If that happens, bring Joan or La Hire over to start some pushing, or get a horse, but be careful if you do the latter!  Some English "lie in wait," as we shall soon see, which means that you'll need to use the east gate at Orleans!)

Enjoy the cutscene with Lucien's parents; after this, you will get your second cross, The Diamond Cross.  Store it away in Jean's inventory for the final mission, along with the first cross.  Lucien's parents will not talk to you after this, for awhile at least.  When we visit them again, they will "complain" about Rouvray's "missing children."  Apparently, the level designers factored in this script logic, just in case poor Lucien ended-up getting killed.  A bit lazy, in my opinion, but when you look at the script code sometime, you'll be able to see quite a few of "last minute" code changes.  Enlight was anxious to get this one "out the door."

After delivering Lucien home "safe and sound," say goodbye to his parents for now; we'll be catching-up with them later.  Head back to the bridge where he was, assign all of your commanders to follow you (Joan) and go south, leaving all of the now-reserve troops where they are.  (Many will wish to "auto-heal" at this point!)  After exiting off the second bridge, you'll come to a 4-way.  To the southeast is a small hill where some English will ambush you from.  To trigger this, go east a little bit and then west (but stay close to the 4-way), and when you see the 'red dots' on your map, head back; you'll encounter two newly spawned 5-man squad of English knights.  After this, go west; another ambush awaits midway down the path, this time being a 5-man English squad of knights.  Just watch your map, and when you "see red", quickly retreat to "rinse and repeat"; Alencon will already be "awash" in action.

When you approach the path leading back to St-Aignor, swing a 'hard left' and take the path towards the southeast back through the town; we're doing a little back-tracking here.  Just before the shallow hill just east of town, a 5-man squad of polemen commanded by an English macemen will attack you, followed by three leaderless Burgundians.  After they are defeated, a large contingent of English knights (three or four squads) will spawn just to the north on the hill to your northwest where you met your first ambush, along with another contingent (two squads) of knights from the east.  This is going to be a major skirmish, but you should have absolutely no difficulty with your 3 commanders and your 43 troops.  Just be sure, as always, to keep everyone together and hit F1 to quickly verify your troop inventories.  After your victory, park everyone within the "city limits" of St-Aignor.

Switch to Jean and put everyone into a hold status.  Send Jean back to Orleans, this time through the south gate.  When you are in Orleans, hit F2 and then send all of his men on a "scouting mission" to north, but do NOT assign any of them to the commanders at the north gate.  (Just highlight Jean's men and then 'point and click.')  Just before his squad reaches the north gate, hit F2 and quickly exit out of the south gate, closing it, trapping his (your) men inside.  (If you do not do this, Jean will automatically recruit additional men later on, which we do NOT want to do!)

For now, Jean is going to do some soloing here.  Once done, send him back to the group, and have him go east up the hill on the "middle" path towards Jargeau.  After approaching a small hill to his left, he will quickly attract the attention of some English knights, a 7-man squad; lead those back to the army.  As soon as that happens, have him return to the group for "the kill."  Rinse and repeat, if necessary.  Just be sure to keep Joan, La Hire, and the Duke "side-by-side," within the "city limits" of St-Aignor's east side in a hold status.  We're trying to avoid any "creep" towards the east here.

Time to attack Jargeau!  It's "Jean all the way, baby!"  Run towards the center bombard, then retreat back to the army, attracting the attention of as many enemy troops as you can.  After each victory, reposition the army on St-Aignor's east side with Joan, La Hire and Alencon holding in a "skirmish line" with Joan, as always, at the vanguard, and then send Jean towards the western gate of Jargeau, attract as many English troops as you can while easily avoiding the bombards (do NOT shoot them), and then head back.  You'll first encounter a 5-man squad of macemen to your left, along with 5 macemen without a leader who are to your right; after that, three 5-man squads of English knights to your left, another three 5-man squads of knights to your right, followed by ten leaderless polemen (5 to your left and 5 to your right), all of whom we take some "coaxing" to lead back to your men.

You'll definitively be doing some "rinse and repeat" on this one, as the English soldiers are scripted to "stop short" after trailing you for awhile.  Play "cat and mouse," reposition Joan, La Hire, and Alencon, and lead more English back to their slaughter.  When most of the English soldiers in front of the castle are dead, return to shoot, with REGULAR arrows, one and only ONE of the 2 men manning each of the three bombards, the ones holding the torches.  (If you shoot the soldier who's job it is to rotate the bombard, the other soldier will continue to fire at you if you are in his "line of sight.")  More on this later.  Fire several volleys at the two 5-man squads of knights who are guarding the northernmost archer tower; lead them back to the army.

When the area is clear, return to the western wall of the castle to clear the area of the four Burgundian archers who are north of the bombards and then go south along the wall to finish off the four other ones, but stay well north of the southernmost archer tower!  After this, go due north to the path heading towards the Loire to clear out four leaderless archers; but first, lead the four English infantrymen troops back to your men for the kill, which should include another leaderless group of five English knights who are just east of the hill which is adjacent to the path which is just south of the Loire.  As always, keep moving, as to easily avoid fire from the towers.

After they are gone, return to attract the attention of two Burgundian infantrymen and three English macemen, all leaderless; after leading those fellows back to your troops, return once again to clean-out three more leaderless archers who are camping out on the south side of the Loire, but do NOT cross the bridge along the northern side of the castle (the one that you saw from north of the Loire -- hit 'Z' to have a look back).  Instead, head over to it to clear-out two leaderless 2-man groups of English infantrymen.  Return along the path to the west which is just south of the Loire to clean-out the three leaderless archers who are standing there, and then head around on that path to join-up with the others.

Hit F2 and assign everyone to follow you, Jean, and then head south towards Chateaudun via the eastern path traversing St-Aignor.  When you get to the 4-way, turn left and take the winding path that you were on before towards Jargeau.  Stop short of where you met Dunois (but make sure that your cannon sitting there is well-protected) and put everyone into a hold status.  Head alone in the wooded area just south of the little wooden hut and two 3-man leaderless squads of English infantry and knights will "ambush" you (make sure that you go far enough to get Jean's dialogue); after finishing them off (they won't follow you back to your men), return for some easy "target practice" on the three leaderless archers.  Step into the wooded area for a 3-man squad of English knights; after killing them, that area will be clear.  Do not, however, venture any farther to the southeast.

After this, lead everyone to the wooden hut, and quickly switch to the Duke and have him construct a trebuchet.  Hit F2 and quickly assign three infantrymen to man it, and then have it attack the nearest tower just east of you, which is manned by 8 leaderless archers.  After that, have it attack the farthest tower to the north, which is manned by 6 leaderless archers.  Finally, have it decimate the western well of Jargeau (the trebuchet can't hit the gate) to the south of the west gate; aim carefully so that you hit the wall, as the gate itself will not take any damage.  Watch your 'HUD' carefully to see the difference.

As Jean will tell you via a cutscene, Jargeau has an inner gate, which is a good thing.  Such will provide complete protection against the da Pole brothers, which means that they will *not* be able to attack you.  Time to clean-up some "loose ends," though.  Some English troops are to the south of Jargeau.  If you do not kill them now, no big deal; they will be happy to stand where they are until the end of Mission 6, and even then, the game will end without you killing them.  But, you need the Experience Points, so assign everyone to Joan, switch to her, and head southeast onto the path and finish off the four macemen and four crossbowmen, all leaderless; finally, eliminate the 6-man squad of polemen.  Be sure to go all the way to the east for some goodies, while staying away from the castle.  Not too worry; no archers are on the southern wall of Jargeau.  Go back to the wooded area; a barrel is on the south side right next to the Void.

Now for the fun -- storm the castle!  Before doing that, make sure that your troops have a good supply of food; Joan's troop inventory should have at least three columns full.  Snake your way back from the south path and "hug" the western wall of Jargeau to avoid any enemy fire.  When you (Joan) enter the castle, you will be greeted by several groups of leaderless knights, first a group of three, then five, and finally, another group of five.  After eliminating them, head north and eliminate the two 5-man squads of knights and polemen.  You'll have to go far north to reach the stairs, but immediately head up them and then backtrack to take-out the two 4-man squads of archers and crossbowmen at the top of the west gate.  Go slow so your men follow you, but leave everyone else below to fend for themselves, which should not be a problem, as that part of the castle should be clear.

After this, come back down and return to a point south of the entrance and proceed to clear out the western area of Jargeau, starting first with two 5-man squads which are camped-out on the southwest side of the castle, a squad of polemen and a squad of knights.  Continue east to encounter another 5-man squad of polemen; after that, another set of two 5-man squads await just south of the barracks, a squad of knights and a squad of polemen.  After defeating them, you *may* get a message that the castle is yours but that you need to finish-off the la Pole brothers.  We'll be doing that later.  Do NOT attack the wooden gate which separates you from them!!  Instead, work your way north to the barracks and then counter-clockwise through the castle into its center, collecting any goodies that are easily accessible.

We have two more towers to eliminate, so head west out of the castle and make a brief stop so that your men can kill-off the English soldiers manning the bombards.  Take the most northern path to the first 4-way (where the English knights first ambushed you), and hit F2 for RTS mode.  Move the northernmost fauconneau towards the west over to you and then head due north across the bridges.  Your commanders should automatically recruit any replacements for the men that they lost, so make sure that the Duke is utilizing the Seal of Antiquelis.  Wind your way over to Chateaunet, with the fauconneau "in tow."  When you reach the prison cells just north of the town, park the fauconneau there.  Park everyone else north of the town's central tower but south of the prison cells about halfway (see below), so that they are out of range of the English archers.

Have Jean cross the bridge south of Chateaunet by himself, armed with the longbow.  Keep moving to avoid the enemy fire (remember, they'll shoot at "where you are" and NOT "where you are going" -- evidently, that 'logic' would have to wait until Space Invaders came along.)  Lead the attacking 5-man squad of infantrymen back to the army and then return for the 5-man squad of polemen.  (This, of course, assumes that you did not kill them earlier!)  Return a final time to kill-off all the range units on the ground, three crossbowmen to the west and three archers to the east, all leaderless.  Do NOT kill any of the archers in either of the two towers, lest you want the game's secret "easter egg."

Once the range units on the ground are dead, return to Chateaunet just south of the central tower, and hit F2; move the fauconneau to the bridge.  Immediately after doing this, return to the area between the two towers and keep moving to draw the English archers' fire.  The AI is so stupid that the English will shoot at you, as you are the closet enemy to them, all the while ignoring the fauconneau who is killing them.  After the fauconneau starts firing, hit F2 to watch the first tower fall; Jean will enter "defensive mod" and will have no problem deflecting the arrows which hit him, but keep a good eye on his health, just in case.  You should also try to sniper some of the archers atop Jargeau's northern wall using regular arrows only; just don't waste too many.

Once one of the two towers falls (probably, the eastern one), Chateaunet will be attacked from the north in two waves, a large group followed by a smaller one.  You'll have four minutes to get there, however, as the army is already there, no big deal; however, hit F1 and verify that everyone's troop inventory has at least four food items.  Let Joan and the other commanders finish off the English assailants (which will be a mix of 5-man squads of infantry, knights, polemen, and crossbowmen, over two dozen men in all) while you continue to provide cover for the fauconneau.  If you do switch to Joan, be sure to keep an eye on Jean's health.  Be sure that everyone (except for Jean, of course) is following Joan and that they are *NOT* in a hold status!

Once the final tower has fallen, hit F2 and move the fauconneau back into town just north of the central tower and quickly follow it to defend it against the English attack.  Chateaunet should be easily liberated for the second and final time, although, you may have to move the army just north of the jail cells to finish-off a squad of English stragglers.  Be sure to move the fauconneau promptly, because if you don't, it will start attacking Jargeau's north gate!  In addition, a software bug is in the game, such that if you leave the fauconneau on the bridge, it is possible for it to "switch sides" after Jargeau falls!  (If this happens, use explosive arrows to destroy it; you could, in you want, build a replacement.)  Once Chateaunet is liberated for a second and final time, move the fauconneau over by the jail cells.

Time to conquer Jargeau, but before doing that, go on a little "treasure hunt" beginning with Chateaunet.  After exploring the town, go north and then explore the entire map east of Orleans and north of the Loire looking for goodies.  Hit F2 and explorer in RTS mode, because you WILL have missed at least a few goodies.  When you are done (take note of all the 'blue squares,' Jean's men who are trying to reach him), head over to Lucien's parents for some additional dialogue for the Mission 5 log.  They will complain about the town's "missing children," simple script logic that was added just in case poor Lucien died, as the developers' "hearts" were, apparently, not into this one.  Say goodbye to Lucien's family (we'll visit them here soon one last time) and then cross the double bridge where you rescued Lucien and take the first left back to the castle.

Quickly head back to the western sector of Jargeau.  Park everyone near the barracks and place them into a hold status; then send Jean up onto the northern wall but stay well to the west of the wooden gate.  Park Jean after reaching the northern wall, switch to Joan, replenish her troop inventory, and then have her and her squad follow Jean, manually.  (Note that due to a strange bug/feature in the RTS system, some of Joan's troops, perhaps most, will not follow her up onto the wall; you can try to coax her troops up onto the wall, but it will likely be a waste of time.)

Quickly alternate between Jean & Joan, moving Jean due east toward Jargeau's north gate, sending Jean up the stairs to kill-off the archers.  Switch to Joan to assist.  When you are done, move her down the stairs to the walled area and put her in a hold status so that she is "leaning" against the north wall.  Switch to Jean and quickly go east along the northern wall, and after it curves to the south, head down the stars.  Time to meet the la Pole brothers.

You do ***NOT*** want to kill everyone off, just the la Pole brothers.  So, we'll be leaving the archers and crossbowmen at the top of the tower alone for now.  Just make sure that Joan and her men are behind some concrete, if possible.  (If not, they will at least be shooting at her and not you!)  William is on top of the tower and brother John is below in the garage with all the gold, which you do ***NOT*** want to pick up.  (Don't worry; it's not going anywhere.)  Keep both brothers away from the stairs, lest they attack Joan and her troops!

Your job is to kill John; William will flee.  Of the two, John appears to be the most vulnerable; if you take William down first, you will lose a cutscene but "gain" some additional dialogue.  You can't have it both ways, so I would recommend killing John first.  Both of the brothers will drop letters, which you should pick up.  (See the "Bugs" section at the top if you should "pick up" an "extra" scroll later on.)  But first, enjoy the cutscene; William is not "going down," at least easily, or so he says.

If you have followed my advice, you should have a good supply of explosive arrows and lots of bolts; if not, do the necessary transfers from your commanders, and after verifying that you have the longbow, head for Jargeau's eastern stairs.  Some knights will climb the stairs to fight you; ignore them, and head down to the ground level.  Once there, the algorithm is easy:  run around the archer tower in a circle, shooting explosive arrows at the mass of mixed English troops in pursuit, some several dozen men in all, mostly five 5-man squads of knights with some polemen, two 5-man squads.  Rinse and repeat.

If you like, you can even open the southern gate, and run outside.  Both la Pole brothers will follow you; after that, you can then run back in, closing the gate.  John & William will stand "helpless" at the gate, which will allow you to hack both of them, and their men, to death.  We will, of course, NOT be doing this!

When the English numbers have been reduced to a trickle, switch to regular arrows and/or bolts; finish John off first, then William.  Both la Pole brothers will drop letters, which you can easily pick-up; leave everything else, as we will be coming back later in Mission 6.  Once done, go back to Joan and leave the archers atop the tower alone.  At this point Joan will start to become more of a target and take damage, so both of you need to retreat as quickly as possible to the western area of Jargeau.  Don't worry about the archers and crossbowmen coming down to attack you; for whatever reason, they're "stuck" at the top of the tower.  Have Jean retreat first, and after him, bring Joan to the western side of the castle, at least to the point where she is out of range of the archers and crossbowmen.

Joan's going West!!  (If you send anyone else, the dialogue at the end of this mission will seem very strange!)  Get everyone out of RTS mode, give Joan the longbow, all the explosive arrows, and at least 500 regular ones, and send her over to St-Aignor to grab the sole horse in the stable and then go west until you reach the most western "fence."  When she reaches the fence, have her dismount, and kill the two Burgundian infantry and three English crossbowmen to the west.  A single arrow to each of the Burgundians will draw them to the adjoining fence, where you can finish them off one-by-one.  For the crossbowmen, you will, as before, have to aim your reticle above the head of each one to kill them.  

After clearing the area near the gate, have Joan go to the south gate of Orleans, open it, and watch as Jean's men run back to him.  Pull the same "trick" that you did earlier with Jean's men, sending Joan's men to the north gate.  When they reach it, close the south gate, "trapping" them inside of Orleans.  Return to the wooden fence and remount Joan.  After that, position her horse so that it is the center of the path.  Wait until all of Jean's men have left your long-range map before continuing.

Switch to the Duke and park him in front of the shoppe and then park La Hire over in front of the blacksmith, for some extra dialogue for the Mission 5 log.  Move Jean back over to the eastern side of Jargeau and have him attack the archer towers; a 6-man squad of archers await you.  After he begins his attack, switch to La Hire; enjoy the cutscene and before the mission ends, have La Hire talk to the blacksmith; quickly switch to the Duke and have him talk to the shoppe owner.  Be quick, as the mission will end very soon.  If you do not do this, no big deal!  You can, and should, repeat the dialogue for Mission 6, regardless!

Mission 6 -- The Sieges of Meung and Beaugency

Joan is on a special mission!!  And, a "rigged" mission at that!  It's a mission that you will likely have to repeat, perhaps a dozen to two dozen times, but you may still get lucky and get it on the first try.  Enjoy the cutscene from the Bastard of Orleans; he's ready for action, but he will wait for you.  "Go west, Joan, go west!!" and hurry; just "run over" anyone in your path, except, of course, the civilians!  (Take a quick note at the peasant house to your left just after you start out; we'll be returning there.)  You're looking for a wagon, two, actually, which understandably caused some confusion for Mr. Tung.  As you approach Meung, the first wagon will be waiting at the gate; sometimes, it will actually get stuck there, a little feature/bug!

The second wagon is your goal.  If you see it crossing the bridge or about to, reload your game; it's hopeless; in fact, if the wagon is anywhere near the bridge, reload.  (It's possible to take the wagon out if it is not yet on the bridge, but difficult.)  Ideally, the wagon, which is approaching Meung via the "middle" path, should be well south of the bridge, in fact, on the adjoining path, the "middle" one.

The tactic is simple; use your horse to block the wagon, dismount, and then "let loose" with your explosive arrows.  Concentrate, of course, on the wagon (in particular, the "horse's rear"!) and do ***NOT*** fire at the castle, Meung, or even approach it.  Doing so will "trigger" the Bastard who is on the north side of the castle, leading him on a suicide mission to his death.  So, stay away from (and off) the bridge!!  Do not cross it or even approach it!  Likewise, do not venture down the "middle path" beyond its entrance; if you do, you'll be ambushed.

After you block the wagon with your horse, the wagon will start to rotate.  Hopefully, it will get stuck, allowing you to finish it off.  Don't worry about the horse; the English, while willing to kill women and children, are not willing to kill horses, so the horse will be safe for the rest of the mission.  You will likely get some "out of place" dialogue from the Duke, and maybe even Jean and La Hire, but there's little that you can do to prevent such "triggers," except to stay as far east as possible, hugging the "left wall".  (Do NOT venture south, north, and/or west of the horse; if you do, you'll mess this walkthrough up!)  Have a peek at John la Pole if you get a cutscene, which you should.  In total, you'll fight around three dozen melee troops, 5-man squads of English infantry, knights, polemen, and Burgundian infantry.

Continue to fire at the "horse's rear" (no kidding!), first using explosive arrows and then alternative with regular ones, and when the wagon is destroyed, head back on foot along the path just south of the Loire (the one that you came on), switch to regular arrows, and kill off everyone in pursuit or who is along the path, which should consist of three leaderless knights.  Do not talk to any of the three civilians (two of which will talk to you, a middle-age, breast-feeding woman and an old man); we'll be catching-up with them later.  Return to Jargeau to meet up with the others.  Until you meet-up with Orleans, begin saving your game often using two or more save files (you should have at least four of them); if Orleans would be attacked, simply reload!

Once again, have La Hire & Alencon talk to the blacksmith & shoppe owners, respectively, and have the Duke buy the medium grade armor.  Don't have Jean enter the garage under the tower where John was (don't worry; we'll be coming back.)  Instead, have him pickup the L3 crossbow (which is slightly more deadly than the longbow, and so, start using it where appropriate) move him over to the western side of Jargeau via the wooden gate (aren't you glad that you didn't have La Hire destroy it!), closing it if you wish.

Assign everyone to Joan and head west to the first 4-way on the path just south of the Loire, the one where the English ambushed you.  Switch to the Duke and have him head west to the peasant house which Joan just passed; in the yard is an upgrade weapon for him, the Level 3 Volgue Vindicator.  If his inventory is full, just have him drop his existing Level 1 Gothic Halberd on the ground; we can pick it up later.  Once again, don't worry about the several civilians are hanging-out along the path to Meung; we'll be talking to them later, and until then, they will be completely safe.

Go back to Joan and be reassigned to her.  Have everyone head north across the double bridge, replenishing any men that your commanders lack.  (Joan's men, of course, are waiting for her.)  Turn left after crossing the bridge and head over to Lucien for one last chat with his parents for the extra dialogue.  (Have a look behind their house for a cool view of the Loire!)  They'll have nothing new to say, and we will not be visiting them again.  Head over to the eastern gate of Orleans; when you approach the small moat, you'll get a message, the same one that you would have gotten had you approached the south gate -- the towns of de Bourges and de Blois (now renamed "Bourges" & "Blois") are in trouble and have been reconquered by the English.

Head through the gate, closing it (as always) behind you and head over to the shoppe for the dialogue, selling all of your apples and buying all of the bread & buns which are available.  After talking to him, head over to the blacksmith and buy 500 regular arrows from the latter; then head over to the western gate.  Don't bother talking to any of the civilians; no one has anything to say to you, not yet at least.  Now is a good time to enter RTS mode to have a quick look around Orleans for any goodies which you have not yet picked-up.  

La Hire's going solo; he needs the EPs.  Assign all of La Hire's 9 men to one or more of your captains at the north gate along with at least one of Joan's men; more if La Hire has a "straggler" who is lost somewhere.  Pass the longbow and all the arrows to him.  If you do go up into the tower above the western drawbridge, do NOT take "pot shots" at the English who are close by in the woods beyond!  Doing so will send them scurrying towards the western gate.

The English have absolutely no interest in attacking Orleans at this point, even though there are more of them than was the case in Mission 2.  In fact, you could even lead them back to the western gate for decimation, but that spoils the game, so we will NOT be doing that (will we?!).  If you have followed my advice in NOT killing the English west of Orleans during Mission 5, you should be in for a quick cutscene, but not just yet.  Note that you will soon encounter, for the very first time, English archers who are armed with explosive arrows; these fellas will be nasty, so make sure that your troop inventories have at least a column of bread and another of buns.

Assign everyone to follow Joan.  Open the western gate and drawbridge and head out SLOWLY and then take a "hard right" and go straight north next to the mote as far as you can.  Switch to Z-mode and backpedal to watch the drawbridge close for a great outdoor scene!.  (The drawbridge will not close until all of your men have cleared it; a little software bug exists where a soldier could be trapped in "mid-air" if the drawbridge closes "through" him.)  When everyone is out, switch to La Hire and put everyone else into a hold status.  Do ***NOT*** reenter Orleans; doing so will send the Bastard to his death.  Once again, be sure to keep "multiple save files" of your game, as you may be reloading if the Bastard gets antsy and decides to kill him and his men off.

Some advice -- have fun.  La Hire is slow and not too good with a bow.  Unlike all of your other three commanders, aim low and you should be fine.  You need to keep moving so as to avoid the English explosive arrows.  Work your way onto the path to the west alone as La Hire, hugging the northern wall and then, the eastern one.  This is very, very important.  Two English squads, a 5-man squad of macemen and a 5-man squad of infantrymen, three leaderless Burgundian infantry, and a lonesome English crossbowman and explosive archer will attack you.  Quickly fire an explosive arrow or two at point blank range at the horde of oncoming melee troops and then run around them, moving around the path to the north.  Ignore the troops to the south!!

Go north until you can go no farther and then clear the area of all the troops in pursuit alternating between explosive and regular arrows, conserving, as much as you can, the former.  For the coup de grâce, use some energy moves.  Once clear, sniper the lone explosive archer in the small tower using regular arrows, who should come out to make himself an easier target.  Once the area to the north is clear, demolish the two crates and prepare to attack de Bourges (now rename "Bourges".)

Now, if you try to "sneak" the army to where La Hire was at the north of the map (a strategy that I used in previous versions of this walkthrough), sometimes, one of your men will drift too far south and attack the 7-man squad of polemen and 2 knights.  Doing so may deprive you of a cutscene, however, if you go south to trigger the cutscene, the polemen captain will remain active throughout it, attacking and killing your men, who will be "frozen" in time!  It's kind of cool effect, but he'll keep killing until you mouse-click to exit the cutscene.

To avoid that, let's go for that cutscene.  As La Hire, head directly south to de Bourges and that 7-man squad of polemen and 2 knights, who are commanded by a poleman.  You'll have to get very close to them to trigger the cutscene, and once you do, a divided 6-man squad of explosive archers will spawn to your northwest and to your northeast (up the little hill towards Orleans), along with six leaderless regular archers to your southeast, who are in the little cove.  (It's possible to sniper the latter from the balcony of Orleans, but this will take some extra work.)  Quickly retreat due north and lead the melee units, which will now include three leaderless infantrymen, back to the army for decimation.

Return to sniper the 6-man squad of explosive archers along with the six leaderless regular ones.  After this, return to Joan, give her the longbow, go into follow mode, assign all of her men to you, and then have her lead all of your men for a quick assault on Bourges; you'll encounter leaderless squads of three knights, three English infantrymen (if they did not attack you already), five English knights, ten Burgundian infantry and six regular archers.  One explosive archer each is to the south in the two archer towers; climb one tower to kill the archer in it and then sniper his pal.

Once the town is yours, three civilians will appear, one of whom will talk to you and give you your next cross for the Saint Catherine sword, the Ruby cross.  Stow it away in Jean's inventory with the other two.  Go into RTS if you wish to have a peek at Meung to your southwest and the inaccessible terrain.  A treasure chest on the town's south-southeast side has a L1 Quartz Crystal and there are six or so crates in town with goodies.  Save your game!  If you wish, you can park everyone and have Joan return to Orleans to refresh everyone's troop inventories (just be sure to save your game should Orleans become antsy!), including hers; if you go back to the 4-way, go out the East gate!  I would recommend recruiting heavy infantrymen.  After that, return to Bourges.

Send Joan to the southwest with the army in tow, hugging the western wall to begin attracting English troops.  Further south into the forest are three leaderless polemen and three leaderless knights (one knight may not follow his comrades right away) who await; a lonesome explosive archer guarding the western entrance to Bourges will come down from his perch to join the fight.  You should notice by now the 'B' toward the southwest on your long-range map -- "The Bastard" is waiting for you.  Sometimes he will get a little antsy and attack Meung all by his lonesome, resulting in his quick death.  If this should happen, simply reload your game; it is, of course, not your fault!!

Let your army move forward on their own, keeping them as far north as possible at all times, such that all three of your commanders are at the vanguard next to each other.  Do not let Joan venture too far by herself, never outside of the short-range map.  When she comes to a small east-west bottleneck, a 5-man squad of infantry and a 5-man squad of knights will attack; lead them back to the army and then reposition the army just east of the bottleneck in the small field.  Be sure to break-open the crates just to your north.  

Four leaderless archers await, but first, a leaderless squad of three macemen and a lonesome archer will attack; lead them back for the kill.  After that, have Joan sniper the archers with regular arrows.  Ignore the town (de Blois) to the northwest.  Instead, go south towards Meung.  An explosive archer is in a small tower; sniper him.  Two other explosive archers are in taller towers, with four leaderless crossbowmen to the right; sniper the archers first from as far away as possible.  When you begin shooting at the crossbowmen, you will attract a group of five leaderless macemen along with two 5-man squads of macemen, all of whom will attack more or less at the same time.  Lead them back to the bottleneck, which will be their doom.  Rinse and repeat for a leaderless group of 5 Burgundian infantry to your left.

Check your troop inventory and make sure that each commander has food in at least one column of troop inventory.  With Joan at the vanguard, have the entire army attack the 9-man squad of 5 polemen and 4 knights just outside of the north gate of Meung, but do **NOT** attack the gate.  Orleans is to the right (west); if the Meung archers begin firing at him, he will attack Meung.  You will need to defend him.  Once done, quickly retreat just a bit on the path running due west to trigger the cutscene, which will place Orleans under your command.  (You can also trigger the cutscene early and watch the Bastard decimate the "frozen" English soldiers all by himself, but we will NOT be doing that!)  Orleans is ready for action but we have other plans.

Once the Bastard is under your command, quickly hit F1, give Orleans some food (fish and loaves), fill-up two columns of his troop inventory, and give him all of your best charms -- from "right to left," the L2 Quartz crystal, the L1 Warrior of Infinity, L1 Holy Protection Ring, and a L2 Amulet of our Lord.  After this, hit F1 again and quickly hit F2, assign Orleans to follow you, quick click on Joan's icon, and, finally, select a point north of the two towers for a quick retreat.  The Bastard has 3 captains under his command.  Make sure that you QUICKLY select all of them to retreat with you, otherwise, they are "dead meat."  Leave the Bastard's cannons where they are; they are out of range of the English archers and crossbowmen, and we won't be using them at all, except for long-range "radar."

Once you are completely clear of Meung's range units, pass the Bastard the Seal of Antiquelis and assign him 16 men.  Move the Seal of Antiquelis back into inventory when finished, replacing it with the Bastard's L2 Amulet of our Lord charm.  Repeat with the Duke, making sure that he has 15 men.  Leave Jean & La Hire with 9 each; Joan should be by herself, unless you returned to Orleans to recruit 9 heavy infantrymen for her.  Either way, have Joan return to Meung's northern area, and using explosive arrows, eliminate all of the range units atop its wall, including, the two arbalests.

Once Meung's northern range units area dead, return to the army, and head "north-by-northwest" (ha!) toward de Blois (now simply renamed "Blois".)  You will encounter three leaderless Burgundian infantry and a 3-man squad of English archers on the path just to the right; sniper them and continue north until you reach a leaderless group of 3 knights.  A 8-man squad of 4 archers and 4 infantrymen (who are commanded by an archer) are near the top of the path just before the fence.  Be sure that your men are parked farther south along the path, and lead the melee troops to their doom.  Return to finish off the archers.

Attack de Blois/Blois.  The town has changed a little; the English have built a windmill!  Same as it was before in Mission 2, but much easier this time.  Bring all four of your commanders to the vanguard and kill everyone, which will consist of a large 8-man squad of 4 polemen and 4 knights (who are commanded by a poleman), four leaderless crossbowmen and four or so explosive archers with several more regular ones further back.  Once finished, two "locals" will appear, both of whom will talk to you.  One will have some worthless advice, and another with some useful information will give you a L2 Warrior of Infinity charm, which you should give to the Bastard, exchanging that for his L1.  From now on until the end of the game, watch The Bastard's health closely!!

Clear the town of goodies, which will include a L2 Quartz charm in the treasure chest, and head back south.  Once you reach the adjoining path back to Orleans, move all of the Bastard's captains just west of Orleans, and while they are moving, explore the area north of Meung alone as Joan.  Some crates are to the north of the small archer tower just west of the east-west bottleneck (the small "hidden grove" which you explored in Mission 2); some additional crates are to the south of the larger archer tower to its east.

When finished, open the drawbridge and move Orleans' captains to the north gate with the other captains, but at this point, you can move all of the eight captains throughout Orleans; as long as everyone is inside the city, they will be safe.  Moving them to a point near a wall will increase the city's "fog of war."  Enter the city to replenish your supplies and troops, if necessary, but do NOT sell anything, not yet at least!  Do NOT, of course, recruit from the barracks; you have plenty of troops at the northern gate courtesy of the Bastard.

A sidebar.  If, for some reason, the drawbridge will not open, you will have no choice but to return to Meung to attack.  Before doing this, try moving Joan close and then farther away from Orleans to open the drawbridge, clicking on various points above and below it.  Sometimes it is just "cranky" and will not open, so make multiple attempts before leaving to attack Meung.  Also, switch to all of your other commanders and have them try.  If you are forced into this scenario, just leave the Bastard's captains near the western mote; they will be fine.

If you are forced to attack Meung, no big deal, but you will lose a cutscene and some additional dialogue from Alexander da la Pole.  Return your army to the two archer towers just north of the castle; switch to La Hire and assign all of his troops to Joan.  Have La Hire attack the north gate, and lead as many troops just inside back to the army for decimation.  Rinse and repeat.  Once things are somewhat clear, have the army storm Meung and make a "hard right" to the southwest.  

Meung is a very segregated city, with basically concentric rings inside separating sections of it.  When you have cleared the northwestern part of the castle near the wall of enemies, park everyone near the western wall of Meung just before where you encounter a "small slit," so small, in fact, that only one soldier can pass through at a time.  Continue as La Hire to clear any remaining range units atop the north gate.  (Do NOT bring any other men atop the wall, else they could, and likely will, get stuck on one of the arbalests, if you did not destroy them.)  Make sure that La Hire has plenty of arrows and send him across the path atop the eastern wall to get the attention of Alexander.  Also make sure that NONE of your men are "in sight" of the northern gate.

As I said, you'll will lose some dialogue from Alexander when you attack from the north as opposed to attacking from the south, which you may be able to regain by going directly to the south gate, open it (you will not be able to close it), and then run back to Orleans with the English in "hot pursuit" on the path that is directly next to the Loire!  (After that, open the western gate of Orleans, get the others, go back to the city, and continue the mission normally.)  If not, then you will need to confront Alexander directly atop Meung's southeastern wall.  (If you do decide to go directly to the southern gate, most of the melee troops will likely return to Meung after chasing you out of the city or stop along the most northern path without harming any civilians.)  Once you've gotten Alexander's attention, he will come down from the south tower onto the wall, where you can easily attack him.

Alexander is, as before, in the "defend the camp" mode, which means that as you lead him back along the path atop the wall (counterclockwise) far from the range units so that they can no longer attack you; he will, periodically turn, turn around to go back to the tower, giving you the perfect opportunity to shoot him in the back.  Once he is dead, his pal Regent Bedford will spawn in the barracks just to the north with a not-so-nice cutscene.

The developers of the game want you to fight him there, but as you return along the wall, he will come out no matter what you do, so it's best that you return along the wall to where you started out to attract his attention, and then at least weaken him quite a bit atop the wall; after that, lead him back down to the barracks.  He's slow and very susceptible to arrows but carries a VERY powerful "hammer," so keep your distance, as a single hit will take one-half of your health.  After he flees, he will drop a new weapon for La Hire, a L3 Crusher Battle Mace.

Once Bedford has retreated, return to the army and reassign all of Joan's men to you (La Hire) and then return command to her.  Go back to the northern gate and head east.  The algorithm is simple -- have your 4 commanders form a line at the vanguard; lead Joan out on a brief "scouting" mission to attract the attention of some English, whom you lead back to their destruction.  Rinse and repeat.  Pick up all the keys and store them with Orleans.  Do ***NOT*** open any treasure chests and do not let anyone out of their jail cells!  See below for a more detailed description of what to expect in Meung.

Slowly clear the castle, first of the melee units and then the range units, whom you should sniper from a distance.  (See below for a more detailed description of these units.)  Keep away from the range units atop the southern wall until all the melee units below them are dead.  After that, go and sniper all the archers on the ground below, followed by the crossbowmen along the wall.  I would leave the range units atop the south gate alone, you'll be taking heavy fire from the towers.  Just keep moving and you should not take very much damage.

Once the city is clear open the southern gate and just ignore all the English soldiers whom are running back and forth.  (They won't attack you as long as their commander is living.)  Quickly exit out of the south gate (without closing it -- you may not be able to) and quickly head east back to Orleans, and enter the city through the south gate.  If any of your men will not follow you, just leave them; it's important to get all your commanders onto the most northern path and away from the castle.  We'll be leaving the Meung archer towers alone for now.  At this point you can continue the mission normally.  It's assumed that you are able to reenter Orleans, which will be the case most of the time, but I will keep the above alternate scenario in mind as I go forward.

Once back in Orleans, visit the blacksmith and buy LOTS of REGULAR arrows.  Deplete your supply of cash, down to ZERO, if possible.  We'll need to do this to make the most of the game's dialogue and cutscenes.  Just trust me.  If Joan has any men, assign those to one of your lonesome captains.  Once done, head out of the south gate across the wooden bridge, and "hug" the Loire's south bank as you go east.  Go up the long north-south path where you met Dunois and park everyone near the south side of the map, as far south as you can get them so that the Loire is just visible.  Assign all of La Hire's men to Joan and then switch to him.

Have La Hire go back to the Loire, go left (west), and take his first "hard left" towards the big town (Loches).  Once entering the path, the Duke will issue "a warning," the same warning that he will give if you, for some reason (don't do this!), decide to take the path just to the west of the one that you are on now.  Once you reach the stone cross, you will encounter some range and melee units (a 7-man squad of 4 knights and 3 infantrymen, who are commanded by a knight) and 4 leaderless archers, two to your left and another two to your right with two leaderless crossbowmen men directly ahead.  Keep going until you trigger a cutscene.  Do NOT engage any of the English units; just "run around" them.

The good-looking dude in the fancy "get up" with the cool mace is the one that you are after, Lord (I presume) Jean de Luxembourg.  He will make some statements ("completely reasonable," in my opinion, but hey, we're fighting for France here!) and then begin to attack you (if not, defeat the melee units and then return, this time, until the bombards begin firing!), along with some hordes of English.

At this point, STOP your approach and quickly retreat.  Once you are north of the stone cross, engage Jean and his men, but keep well south of the Loire -- Jean has the potential to kill civilians if you start leading him around the map.  (Potentially, you could led him back to Orleans and hack him to death at the gate; you could also, if you wish, fight him alongside the three English generals at the end of Mission 6!)  Besides, we want to keep things as "realistic" and "fair" as possible, don't we?

Jean looks great, and he is an easy "take down," and will be the weakest of all the English generals you fight.  He's slow, not agile, and not well-protected, as is evidenced by his cool outfit.  Use explosive arrows judiciously to take down his men, and then switch to regular arrows to finish him off; he'll retreat, and we will encounter him again in the last battle of Mission 8, where he will drop a very cool sword!  In addition to him, you'll be fighting a 8-man squad of four English knights and four infantrymen (who are commanded by a knight) and a 9-man squad of six polemen and three knights, the latter group commanded by Jean himself.

Once everyone in the vicinity is dead, return to Joan and assign all of her men to you (La Hire).  Switch to Joan and have everyone follow her back to the Loire.  Put everyone in a hold status and have Joan return to Orleans and assign her all of the available archers from the archer captain in the city and any extra crossbowmen, along with some macemen for a total of 10 men.

Have her stop at the shoppe to buy all the available buns & bread, deplete (once again) your cash as much as possible by buying regular arrows at the blacksmith, and head back to  the gang.  Give her the longbow with REGULAR arrows and release everyone; make sure that each of your commanders has a column of troop inventory consisting of buns and another full of bread, with Joan have a third column full of bread and/or buns; give the Bastard as many buns and bread as he can carry.  Time to attack Jean's town!

After passing the stone cross, switch to Z-mode (pass the longbow from La Hire to her, of course!); your (Joan's) job is simple -- take out the two soldiers holding the torches for the pair of bombards, ignoring the four archers to your (her) left, the four archers to her right, and the lonesome crossbowman.  We don't want to destroy them, as they will provide some additional "radar" for our map, but immobilizing them is absolutely essential.  Once they are disabled, start firing at the range units, anyone who is standing; let you men finish-off the two remaining bombard soldiers.

If an archer is moving around, don't bother; your men will take care of him.  Keep a good idea on Orleans, as he is still very weak, and to a lesser extent, your other commanders.  If the Bastard takes any damage at all, feed him a bun!!!  Watch especially for any "big red splotches" on your short-range map; one of your men is in trouble and needs food, fast!  Every minute or so hit F1 to check all of your commanders' troop inventories; replenish as needed, but make sure that the Bastard has food for himself at all times.

Quickly work your way through the city, concentrating on the six or so 5-man groups of archers (around 20 on the east side with another 20 or so on the west side of town) and the four 5-man groups or so of crossbowmen, all (or most) leaderless; note that the latter only take two arrows to bring down.  Let your men take care of the melee units, which will include a mixed 9-man unit of six polemen and three knights just south of town.  Within 5 minutes, Loches will be yours!

Four new civilians will "spawn."  Talk to them.  One of them, Simon Ferron, will give you another objective, which we'll talk about here soon.  Another civilian, Milon Crieur, will share with you some nearly worthless information, and third, a woman with a baby, will have nothing to say to you, as will another middle-age man.  Put everyone into a hold status, and have Joan quickly return to Orleans with her archers (make sure that no civilians are wandering down the path to the west!) and other men, reassigning them to their respective captains.  Make sure that your cash is near zero (if not, go buy some more arrows), and then head back to the gang.  Make sure that the troop inventories of all your commanders have a few supplies and then head due west.  Leave all the goodies in Loches; we'll be coming back for them later on.

You are, as Simon mentions, on your way to a house in Seeles-en-Berry.  An alleged traitor is hanging-out there, and he'll want 3,000 in gold to "help" you out.  More on him later.  First, you're going to encounter some various five or 6-man squads -- English knights (6), Burgundian infantry (6), English macemen (6), English crossbowmen (5), Burgundian infantry (5), English macemen (5), English knights (5), and finally, some leaderless groups of English infantry (3, unless you killed them earlier), and just after you pass due south of Meung, two groups of English archers (3), and lastly, Burgundian infantry (3).  With your large army, things will be easy.  Keep leveling everyone up (HP only!), and do NOT, when Joan reaches Level 20 (or anyone else), use the "Energy attack" upgrade!!!

Pass as far as possible south of Meung, hugging the "left wall."  After taking out the archers and Burgundian infantry, head west; some larger squads await you; four leaderless macemen and six leaderless archers, three to each side .  Eventually, you'll trigger a cutscene (note La Hire's opinion about his foes) and will be attacked by a large squad of eight polemen and three knights, who are commanded by a poleman.  It will be a 'moderate' battle which should cause you no problems whatsoever; just keep, as always, a good eye on the Bastard's health.

After this, put everyone into a hold status and keep them midway between Meung and Beaugency.  You (Joan) continue due west.  A small ambush will occur with a small 3-man squad of knights; finally, after another short cutscene, a 6-man squad of 4 polemen and 2 knights will attack (who are commanded by a poleman), along with a 5-man squad of archers.  Lead both sets of groups individually back to your men for their doom.

You can't attack Beaugency, courtesy of its "gaffer."  You can, however, kill the archer who are standing on the south side of the south gate wall, who are armed with explosive arrows.  To do this, approach the castle until the archers begin firing at you but stop short of the stone bridge; after that, return fire until the six or so archers are dead, which you cost you around a dozen or more explosive arrows.  Note that you will not be able to kill the other archers who have positioned themselves on the *north* side of the south gate overlay.

After your short volley, prepare to cross the stone bridge.  Timing is everything to maximum dialogue, so I would suggest running as fast as you can across the stone bridge until you get the dialogue from Jean; after that, quickly retreat, and hopefully, you'll pick up Alencon's voice dialogue (if not, you'll at least get the text); we'll be attacking Beaugency later (that's what the developers want, after all.)  By this time, you will have attracted the attention of the two 5-man squads, one of polemen, the other of knights.  Lead all of them back to the army for their final end.

Once the area in front of Beaugency is clear, there's an old man moving around with some news and a L3 Bloodstone for La Hire, so talk to him.  You'll be getting a new commander here soon!  Pity that he won't stick around after this mission.  Bust open the crates of supplies on both sides of the path and give La Hire his new L3 charm, giving his to you.  Enter the town for the brief dialogue from Jean and watch the traitor "drop in" (literally, you'll see him "fall in" from the sky.)  Go talk to the "traitor"; you don't have enough money (we're maximizing the game's dialogue here.)  Talk to him again for a very slight variation on the same dialogue (as occurred in Mission 4 with Jean); press 'M' to see the difference.  If you want, run up to the walls of Beaugency; hit F2 for a quick pick at Lord Talbot.  After cleaning out the town, head back to the gang.

Head east, hugging (this time) the "right wall."  When the Duke reaches the wooden shed, have him build a trebuchet.  After this, head down the "farthest right" path, the one that you were just on back to Loches, but be quick as the archers will be firing.  (If the horse is on the middle path, have Joan, by herself, first move it over to the trebuchet, before releasing anyone out of their hold status, as your men will, later on, get 'stuck' next to the horse -- it's "not a bug, but a feature!")  Keep going east on the far right path toward Loches but keep everyone together.

Return to Jargeau, collecting any and all goodies along way.  Sell off all your **extra** weapons (except for the long-range crossbow), charms, and apples.  (See below for the charm list before doing this!)  The big wooden inner gate will now open, since you did not destroy it (right?)  Put everyone into a hold status (so no one gets "stuck") and go in and clean out everything, especially, the gold in the garage and anything atop the tower.  Hit F2 to thoroughly scan the area; say goodbye to Jargeau.  We won't be coming back.  At this point, Joan should have NO men assigned to her, so avoid the area to the north, lest she start recruiting men.  If Joan does have some men assigned to her, return her to Orleans through the south gate and have her assign these men to one of the captains at the north gate.

Here's that charm list (from "left to right") which your men should end-up with at the VERY END of Mission 6:

Joan -- Level 2 Quartz Crystal, Level 1 Warrior of Infinity, Level 2 Hematite Bloodstone, Level 1 Amulet of Yahweh
Jean -- Level 2 Quartz Crystal, Level 2 Warrior of Infinity, Level 3 Citrine Spiral Pendant, Level 1 Amulet of Yahweh
La Hire -- Level 2 Quartz Crystal, Ring of Yahve, Level 3 Hematite Bloodstone, Level 2 Amulet of Yahweh
Alencon -- Level 2 Quartz Crystal, Level 1 Warrior of Infinity, Level 1 Hematite Bloodstone, Level 2 Amulet of Yahweh
Orleans -- Level 2 Quartz Crystal, Level 2 Warrior of Infinity, Level 1 Holy Protection Ring, Level 3 Amulet of Yahweh
Arthur -- Level 2 Quartz Crystal, Level 2 Citrine Spiral Pendant, Level 2 Diamond, Level 2 Amulet of Yahweh

Keep Arthur's stuff in the Bastard's inventory, but sell everything else.  (Before the mission ends, TRANSFER ***ALL*** of Arthur's charms to Joan for safekeeping, as Arthur will NOT be part of Missions 7 or 8!!!)  Note that some of the items in the above list will not be available to you at this point in the game, so plan carefully.

Head back to Loches; clean it out (again) and scout for any goodies along the way.  Head west and do the same.  Park your men midway between Loche and Meung; locate them next to three large rocks on the right side of the path between two single rocks which are to the left.  Talk to Elya Tinchor, the alleged traitor.  He will take 3,000 of your gold and offer to get you into Meung.  Four possible scenarios can result from this encounter, which are all mutually exclusive:

1)  Elya goes back to Meung and successfully opens the gate.  If you follow him at a decent distance, you will get to hear some additional dialogue, provided, of course, that you did not attack Meung from the north!

2)  Elya goes back to Meung but you are too close behind him.  The English will, of course, "see" you and Elya will take off.

3)  Elya goes back to Meung but he can't open the gate.  He'll say "goodbye," keeping your money, of course!

4)  Elya goes back to Meung and "discovers" that you have already opened the gate.  If you have conquered the city completely, you can follow Elya all the way up to the castle as close as you want (all the English will, of course, be dead) and watch him disappear just south of the wall of Meung!

The best strategy is to follow Elya (you can't "catch him"; he's faster than you!) and stop just west of the trebuchet; you can hit F2 and watch Elya's journey in RTS mode.  Enjoy the cutscene, assuming, of course, that you have not yet attacked Meung.

If Elya has successfully opened Meung's south gate, great; if not, assign 3 infantrymen to the trebuchet FROM Jean or La Hire (remember about messing the game up with the Seal of Antiquelis!).  Have the trebuchet destroy Meung's two archer towers and then the south gate.  Reassign the infantrymen back to their commanders.  You will have to position yourself midway between the trebuchet and your men to do this.  Either way, once Meung's gate is opened, head in (you, Joan) to start attracting English melee units.  If you have done things right, you'll get a cutscene with dialogue from the Duke, Jean, and La Hire; they're ready for action.  (If Elya was successful in opening the gate, do NOT close it; otherwise, you will lock yourself out!  However, see below!!)  Ignore the 10-man squad of 4 polemen, 3 infantrymen, and 3 crossbowmen (who are commanded by a poleman) running back and forth just outside of Meung's south gate.

Lead the English down the most southern path back toward Loches where your troops "lie in wait."  Rinse and repeat.  Just be sure to not "get cornered" and keep moving to avoid the archers (who, once again, will be shooting "where you are" and not "where you are going".)  You are faster than them, so this will not be a problem.  Realize that some English units will "stop short" (typically, on the bridge), so it will take multiple attempts to "attract" their attention.  Also be aware of "creep," that is, after each skirmish, your troops will get closer and closer to Meung.  Reposition them as necessary, such that they are "within range" of the trebuchet, via the long-range map, but far away from Meung as possible, which means keeping them next to the three rocks.

If John would happen to come down from the stairs (he shouldn't), do NOT lead him back to your men.  (He shouldn't follow you, as he is in the "defend the castle" mode.)  Instead, fight him inside the castle, preferably, along the southeast balcony, which means leading him back up the stairs, else fight him  on the castle grounds.  Here is a list of English troops which you should encounter (roughly in order):  one 8-man squad of knights, two 6-man squads of Burgundian infantry, two 6-man squads of English macemen, two 6-man squads of English knights, a 6-man squad of English infantry, a 6-man squad of polemen, and finally, a 3-man squad of knights.

You'll attract most of these troops on your second approach to the castle (unless, of course, you go into the castle on your first approach!), so be prepared for a fun, but intense, sortie!  You'll also be getting your first treasure chest key, which you should store with the Bastard.  Note (once again) that captains of squads are the only ones who will drop the keys to the treasure chests or jail cells.

Once the English melee units in the southern area of Meung are dead; you (Joan) head in to finish off the leaderless archers next to the wagon, three to the left, three to the right, and four at the back.  When you do so, you will attract the attention of a 7-man squad of English knights; lead them back to the army.  Finally, you'll receive a warning message courtesy of the game, as two 7-man squads of knights and a 6-man squad of polemen will come from behind the central, large building to attack you.  Lead them back to their doom.  Do NOT attack the horse cart within the castle, and if one is near the gate, ignore that also.  We'll be picking up goodies later on, so leave them.

To get the fullest dialogue, ignore what I said in the above paragraph above about shutting Meung's south gate (that is, after you have lead most of the melee troops on Meung's south side to their deaths), even if Elya was successful in opening it for you!  Close the gate with you on the outside (may take several attempts) and then destroy it with the trebuchet to get La Hire's dialogue.  (If you have already attacked Meung from the north, you will need to have Joan go into the city by herself to shut the gate from the inside, before, of course, destroying it.)  After that, destroy the two archer towers, if you have not already done so.  Four archers are (or, rather, were) in each tower.  You can also destroy a section of the wall which is east of the gate, so do that also.  Just be sure to keep the army FAR away, but will within range, from the opening leading to Meung's south gate, lest Alexander attack!

After this, storm the castle!  (Ha!!)  Lead everyone to the right after (re)entering the now-destroyed gate (or, better yet, the eastern hole) and go counter-clockwise (northeast at first) through the castle.  Keep moving (if your men engage the squad running back and forth at the south gate, just leave them), at least initially, to get away from the range units atop the south gate, and Alexander, especially.  (Don't worry; he *probably* won't come down to attach you IF you stay moving, however, some of your commanders may try to climb the stairs to get him, so watch for that, and switch to them to lead them back down if this happens.)

You may get a message from Alexander, one which is different than the one you would have gotten had you attacked from the north.  Note that you can use the trebuchet to destroy the two arbalests atop Meung's south tower, but Alexander will likely descend to fight you!  Note that if Alexander does decide to come down the stairs, you (Joan) keep moving the army to the northeast!  Switch to Jean or La Hire to fight Alexander once the army is completely clear; do not let Alencon or The Bastard anywhere near Alexander!!

Work your way to the north gate, following and staying close to Meung's outer wall, keeping everyone together as best you can.  (Watch your map carefully, as someone of your commanders may "run off" to fight; if so, lead them back.)  Once you read the northeast of Meung, take a rest.  If you want, put everyone into a hold status and have a peek at Orleans via RTS.  In all, you will engage 3 leaderless archers after entering Meung, 3 leaderless crossbowmen, 3 more leaderless archers, a 5-man squad of polemen (further in from the wall), a 6-man squad of knights, and after reaching the first jail cell (where you will get a plea for help from an old man and a younger woman, his daughter no doubt), you'll engage a 6-man squad of polemen and a 5-man squad of macemen.  You'll also pick up your first jail key, but do NOT let them out.

Continue to the west, hugging Meung's north wall.  Before coming to the barracks, you'll encounter a 5-man squad of knights, along with a few leaderless macemen.  At this point work your way directly south toward the five treasure chests, which you should not yet open.  Finish off a 5-man squad of archers followed by four leaderless macemen.  A 5-man squad of polemen will attack, and after them, sniper the four leaderless archers who will be shooting at you.  If you've killed Alexander, then his pal, Regent Bedford will be waiting, which means that he'll need to keep the army on the northeast side of Meung will you take him out.  Just lead any enemy troops (excluding, Benford, of course!) back to the army for the killing.  After that, fight Bedford, as Joan, in the barracks!  He's an easy take-down; just don't attack him when he is "glowing" (hence, invincible.)

Do not venture any further south; attract the attention of four leaderless Burgundian infantrymen to your west, and after finishing them off, return due north to where you were, just north of the five treasure chests.  If you are low on food for your troops, place everyone into a hold status and have Joan return to the southern area by herself to bust open the crates who are on the southeast side of the large building; just be sure to retrace your (her) steps and make sure that she does not "eat" any of the food!

Head west.  When you reach the north gate, there will be some intense fighting; you'll encounter a large 8-man squad of knights, a 5-man squad of polemen, and two 5-man squad of knights and a 5-man squad of polemen (if I've counted correctly!).  Clean-out these units and then go atop the wall on a solo sortie (as Joan) to finish-off any remaining range units (who should all be already dead) but without any men, as they will likely get stuck on one (or both) of the arbalests (which you should have destroyed).  If you didn't kill them earlier, you'll encounter a 3-man squad of crossbowmen, a 4-man squad of archers, and an infantrymen manning each of the arbalests, as well as four leaderless archers camping out on Meung's northern wall east of the north gate.  Open the treasure chest for your first Level 4 weapon, the Sentinel crossbow, which you should use from now on!

Continuing west to encounter another 5-man squad of polemen who are accompanied by three leaderless infantrymen along with several leaderless macemen who will join the fight.  Time for another prison cell, some more pleas for help, and another key, your fourth one.  Eventually, park everyone on the southwest side of Meung, in the exact same spot that you would have if you had attacked Meung from the north.  As before, the spot that you want to select is a "little slit" between the west wall of Meung and some buildings, so small that only 1 individual can pass through the opening at a time.  A 8-man squad of English knights are on the other side.  Put your commanders in a hold status, slip through the small opening, and lead those knights back to their destruction.

Switch to Joan and assign all of La Hire's men to her; give him the longbow (just in case) and lots of bolts (for your new crossbow!) regular arrows (just in case you run out of the former) and then send him atop the wall on the north side.  Put everyone into a hold status and have La Hire go and finish off Alexander, remaining atop the wall at all times.  Defeat the three members of an archer squad, and to attract Alexander's attention, just fire a single bolt at one of his men who are atop Meung's south platform.  As I mentioned before, Alexander is in the "defend the camp" mode which means that he will venture only so far away from the south tower at a time.  Shoot him in the back until he is dead, leading him counterclockwise around Meung's upper wall.

Once that happens, his pal Regent Bedford will spawn in the barracks to the north.  Enjoy the two brief cutscenes, one after you kill Alexander and the other when you approach the barracks.  You'll be able to see Bedford's big red icon courtesy of eastern arbalest (if you did not destroy it) atop the northern tower as you return towards the barracks.  Bedford will come-out to climb the stairs; weaken him atop the northern wall before leading him down to the barracks for the coup de grâce.

He has a deadly hammer, so just do not get close to him.  He's slow, however, which means that you should quickly defeat him and will not have the "pleasure" of meeting him again after he retreats, in spite of his threats to the contrary.  Note that if you try to fight him in the barracks (which I highly recommend that you do NOT do!), a single shot from him will drain nearly all of your health, so keep your health-bar completely full at all times if you do this!

Pick up your new weapon, the L3 Crusher Battle Mace, which you should give to you (La Hire).  Once done, return to Joan and assign her men to back to you, La Hire.  Assign everyone to follow Joan.  Likely, you'll be low on food and will lost some men, so if that is the case, assign all of Jean's men that you can to La Hire, Alencon, or the Bastard, and keep everyone except for Jean in a hold status.

Send Joan out the north gate back to Orleans to buy food (all the breads & buns) and recruit troops ("count carefully" -- the Bastard should have 16, Alencon 15, and La Hire 9; so, you should recruit 9 troops for Jean and accordingly for the others with none for Joan) from those who are already present in the city and then return via the north gate of Meung.  Spread three of the Bastard's cannons out north of Meung as a "radar" except for the far most western one; leave that one where it is.  After you return, fill-up your troop inventory, one row of buns, the other of bread.  Now is also a good time to start buying as many chickens and ham as you can.

Conquer the castle, which is nearly conquered at this point.  As I described before, it should not be a problem -- Meung has a set of concentric rings; we'll be working our way around with Joan at the vanguard, keeping everyone together.  Do not let anyone out of their jail cells, not until the city has been fully conquered.  First, have Joan move through the small slit by herself and then lead each of your commanders through manually.  The Bastard may not follow, at least right away; if that is the case, just leave him in a hold status.  If you move far enough south, the Bastard should follow, eventually.

After passing though the small slit, you'll encounter a 6-man squad of polemen followed by a 5-man squad of knights who will attack you at the rearguard.  Working your way east, you'll encounter a larger 7-man squad of polemen.  Continue east, which should now be clear, and work your way to the large, central building.  Go down the small incline and take a right.  Sniper the four leaderless archers who will be shooting at you.  You'll attract the attention of a large 8-man squad of knights; fight them on the stairs.  When you (Joan) have at least weaken them, let your men finish them off and sniper the four remaining leaderless archers and three leaderless crossbowmen who are on the ground.  At this point, you'll be taking a barrage of arrows from the towers, so watch your heath and that of your men.

After that, quickly head up the stairs.  Attack the six or so crossbowmen to your west; their leader is atop the tower platform.  Climb the tower to do battle with two large squads, one of archers, the other crossbowmen, consisting of 10 men each.  (Some of the archers you will have defeated earlier in your battle with Alexander.)  Take out the two infantrymen manning the arbalests and then clear the platform.  Likely, you'll be fighting alone, so watch your health.  When the platform is clear, head back down.  Let your men decimate the wagon, and if the city is not yours, look for any stragglers.  It won't take long to find them; after that, Meung will be yours!  Enjoy the extended dialogue!!

Put everyone into a hold status, and you (Joan) pick-up all the goodies ("woman's work," right?!) and collect all the keys, which is the easiest to do while in RTS mode.  To maximize dialogue, pass all the cell door and treasure keys to The Bastard -- have Joan try to each cell door and then, have Jean, and finally, using a key, have La Hire free everyone.  Ditto for the five treasure chests (you'll lose a message if you don't try to open one without a key!); for those, you will pick-up the L6 Lord of Kings sword (for "men only"!?) and a L2 Quartz Crystal, which you should pass to Alencon.  Pass the keys back to The Bastard for each new cell and treasure chest.  Have Joan go atop Meung's western wall and hit F2 for a nice look at Beaugency; you can repeat this procedure atop Beaugency's eastern wall!  Don't forget to pick-up (if you haven't already) the Level 4 Sentinel crossbow in an unlocked treasure chest atop Meung's north platform.

Visit the shoppe to sell your apples, buying ALL the available food (except for apples, of course!); visit the blacksmith to sell La Hire's old weapon (do NOT sell the long-range or Sentinel crossbow) and any extra/worthless charms (do NOT sell Arthur's stuff!).  Note the shoppe owner and/or blacksmith will NOT be at their respective places of business -- it's not a bug, but a feature!!!  (Just look for the white dots BEFORE opening up any of the prison cells.)  Do NOT buy the medium-grade armor from the blacksmith; you already bought it during Mission 2!  Howevever, DO buy as many bolts (at least 500) as you can, to use with your new Level 4 bow!!

Return to Orleans (again) to replenish any lost men, buying all of the available food (except the apples.)  Jean, apparently suffering from memory loss will remind you to "liberate" the two towns to the north, which, of course, you have already done!  Go out the east gate of Orleans, if necessary, to assign the reserve troops from the previous mission, returning as you came.  When done, return to Meung via the western gate of Orleans and scour it for goodies one last time in RTS mode.  If any civilians are near the western drawbridge, push them into the city.

Once the castle has been completely cleared and your men replenished, have the trebuchet blast a hole in the southeast wall of Beaugency.  In the meantime, position everyone just to the west of the trebuchet, facing west.  Assign La Hire's men to Joan, give him the longbow and Sentinel crossbow, and then load him up with all the arrows and bolts, explosive (which he should not need to use) and regular.  He's going solo.

Have him enter Beaugency through the newly created hole (once, of course, it gets created!), receive some dialogue from Alencon, and have him attract the attention of the English melee units.  (Do NOT open the south gate; if you do, you won't be able to close it!  And, we'll destroy it later on.)  Keep moving to avoid the barrage of explosive arrows; lead the English back to your men for their destruction.  Avoid creep and keep troop inventories supplied.  Rinse and repeat.

For each sortie, use (you, La Hire) your energy moves (right mouse button -- of course, you knew that!) to "get things started".  During your various sorties, you'll encounter the following squads of enemies:  a 5-man squad of knights, a 5-man squad of polemen, another 5-man squad of knights, and a mixed 8-man squad of 5 polemen and 3 knights.  Once the southern ground area of Beaugency has been cleared, approach the wooden gate leading north into the castle to get the cutscene from Lord Talbot, but do NOT destroy the door!!.  If you need "a breather," go into the  latrine (you'll be vulnerable elsewhere in the barracks), where you will be safe from the explosive archers.  Clear the area of goodies; just keep moving to avoid the archers, who will, as always, be shooting where you are and not where you are going.

If there are any civilians in the area who have come from the east, they will be killed, so keep your men between them and the English and, especially, Burgundians.  The old man in the town to the west will be fine; they won't kill him, but an old man and child will sometimes wander into the area from the east, so we want to preserve their lives.  Just be wary of "creep"; if you allow your army to get too close to Beaugency, they will be decimated by the explosive archers atop the south gate.

Once the south of Beaugency is mostly clear of melee units, have La Hire beat down the SOUTHERN gate from the SOUTH SIDE to get a message from Alencon, and another message from Lord Talbot which he can "trigger" after crossing the gate threshold.  After that, have him beat down the EASTERN wooden door (and NOT the one leading north -- Lord Talbot is behind that one!)  More units await, so it is best, as before, to lead them back to the army.  You'll encounter an 8-man squad of 5 polemen and 3 knights, along with 3 macemen, 2 knights, and 2 Burgundian infantry, all leaderless.  When you return to approach the southeastern stairs, you'll attract the attention of 2 knights and 1 Burgundian infantryman.  After leading these troops back to the army, return to the southeast corner of Beaugency to climb the stairs.  You'll encounter 2 Burgundian infantrymen and 1 (or 2) polemen; defeat them at the top of the stairs.

Note that Lord Talbot may attack you, especially, if you get his second message.  If this is the case, do **NOT** lead Talbot and/or any of the attacking troops back to the army.  (Talbot & Company will decimate your troops if you should do this.)  Instead, run back and forth on the main grounds firing all of your explosive bolts (and, arrows, if you run out of the former) until Talbot and a few stragglers, if any, are remaining.  After that, keep a VERY good eye on your health and use a combination of energy moves and bolts to take Talbot down.  Note that you will not be able to step on him when he is down on the ground due to the barrage of arrows, some explosive, that you'll be taking fire from.  See below for more details on fighting Talbot.

Give La Hire ALL of the apples and then have him return to the southeast stairs in Beaugency.  After reaching the upper wall, go right (west) towards the south gate.  You'll encounter a small 3-man squad of archers in a small chamber.  Defeat them "hand to hand" and then sniper using regular bolts several of their pals on the upper path leading due north, ignoring the remaining squad (18 archers in total, which, as far as I can tell is, are identical to their adjoining squad) in the adjoining chamber who will be shooting at you (as will nearly everyone else!)  

Take a quick breather and then continue west to clear out the archers atop Beaugency's southern gate.  Just play "peek-a-boo" with them, most of whom will be dead from your previous volley when you first approached Beaugency, and shoot them while climbing and descending the stairs.  They're armed, of course, with explosive arrows, so keep a good eye on your health bar.  Do not use explosive bolts/arrows, as you could, potentially, destroy the south gate!  (Another coding glitch/feature, assuming, of course, that you did NOT follow my advice in destroying it just moments ago!)  Three leaderless regular archers will attack you from the west on a "suicide mission".

Once the southern gate platform is clear of archers, head back to the east to the southeast stairs but stay ATOP of the wall.  At this point DO NOT (and, I repeat, DO NOT) have La Hire exit the wall onto the turf of Beaugency.  Eventually, he will be attracting the attention of Lord Talbot.  We're going to go north for a little bit.  Take note of the wall leading southeast/northwestern which is to your left, but keep going north along Beaugency's outer wall for just a little bit to clear out the enemies.  Use the bow for longer range attacks, and for melee combat, energy attacks (just keep hitting the 'B' button.)  Your new charm, plus the one that you picked-up back in Mission 4 are together going to be a HUGE asset here.

You'll encounter a single leaderless polemen (if you didn't kill him and his pal earlier), followed by a large 10-man squad of crossbowmen arranged in a north-south line.  Four of these crossbowmen, including their squad leader, are in the chamber directly north.  Use the longbow to clear them out and their remaining pals to the north.  A leaderless Burgundian infantryman will attack along with three leaderless knights.  The longbow, as you should have already discovered, is extremely effective against the knights, as was the case during the 100 Years War.

Once you've cleared the chamber of crossbowmen, return to the southeastern stairs.  A 5-man squad of knights will attack you.  Lead them back to the chamber just east of the south platform where you felled the 3-man squad of archers, snipering them with your longbow, using your energy moves to finish them off.  It would be pointless to try to lead these fellas back to the army, as they will be blocking the stairs!

Once they are dead, head north along the southeast/northwestern path which crosses over the middle of the castle, SLOWLY.  Play "peek-a-boo" with six members of the large 18-man squad of archers (three of whom you felled earlier) in the chamber directly to your north.  You'll need to use some explosive bolts/arrows to soften these fellas up, but no more than 5, so aim carefully, alternating with regular bolts.  Climb the stairs to eliminate the two archers in the squad who are atop the platform; repeat with the other two squad members further north.  Grab all the goodies atop the two towers and below lest we forget them later.

Continue north along the path which will curve to the northwest.  You'll encounter a new 18-man squad of archers along with the captain of the 18-man squad who you have just decimated.  Finish of their leader while continuing to attack the next squad; while in the chamber, pick up a Level 2 Quartz Crystal, passing that to Joan in exchange for her Level 1 Quartz Crystal.  Continue northwest atop the wall, noting Lord Talbot's large red diamond icon; don't worry if he "veers off" as if he is going to attack you, but in the unlikely event that he does, just fight him a and his 8-man squad of knights atop the northwestern/southeastern wall slowly retreating to the south wall; use explosive bolts/arrows as necessary.  See below for the algorithm.

As you approach the western wall and its corresponding chamber, you'll attract the attention of four Burgundian infantry, three macemen, and two English infantrymen, all leaderless.  Finish them off **before** entering the inner chamber which adjoins the western wall of Beaugency and northwestern/southeastern wall, as you are going to be in for a major skirmish here soon.  Max-out your health.

Once you reach the adjoining chamber, a 5-man squad of English macemen will attack you from the north, along with the remaining four archers of the 18-man squad, which will include their leader.  Several English infantry will also join the attack, so "pick a corner," switch to explosive bolts/arrows to soften everyone up, and then use your energy attacks to finish everyone off, using apples as necessary.  Do NOT let your health dropped below 50%!!!

Go south along Beaugency's western wall to clear-out the enemies leading back to the south gate platform.  You'll encounter three crossbowmen, three English infantrymen, three Burgundian infantrymen, and three English knights, all of whom will be leaderless.  (If you wish, you can also sniper two crossbowmen who are to the west of the castle down below.)  After this, the southern area of Beaugency should be completely clear.  Exit off the stairs at the southeast corner of the castle, the ones that you first climbed.  Time to confront Lord Talbot, but first, a little housekeeping; a mixed 9-man squad of five knights and 4 polemen are just to your north.  Fire a single bolt at them to get their attention and lead them back to the army.  Return alone to where you were at the northwest to southeast wall when finished.

Lord Talbot should not be difficult to defeat, however, we do not want to lose a cutscene, so we do not want to attract the attention of two captains to the north, Paulinus Agnetis, who is standing just south of the north gate, and Warin Amcotes, who is just south of the northwestern stairs.  So, we will be "hugging" the right (north) side of that southeast to northwest wall that you were atop earlier.  This will be very easy; just stay between the nice houses and wall!  (Of course, if you have already fought Lord Talbot, skim the next several paragraphs!)

Lord Talbot will have likely moved when you got close to him earlier, in an attempt to fight you.  If you fire an bolt directly at him, he will simply block it.  To get him and his men to attack you, it will be necessary to hit one of his knights.  When you first see his red diamond icon on your short-range map, send a bolt at one of the knights who are standing right next to him.  (Do NOT attack ANY of the knights who are on the ground of Beaugency.)  When he and his squad come over to attack you, retreat towards the southeast stairs.  Now, if you can't see Talbot after reaching the wooden door, go back to the southeast stairs, and just skip ahead; we'll keep catch-up with him here soon!

The algorithm for defeating Lord Talbot and his men is simple:  1) Just keep your distance and keep "pumping" him and his men with bolts, so as to slow them down; 2) When they get close to you, switch to explosive arrows and fire several rounds; 3)  Exit out of Z-mode and start hitting the 'B' button repeatedly for an energy attack; 4) watch you health (do **NOT** let it go below 50%!!); 5) When the English regroup, retreat; 6) rinse and repeat.  Kill all of Talbot's men and then finish him off using your energy moves.  You'll get a cutscene where he promises you a rematch, but this will be the last time that you see him.

Thirty seconds after Lord Talbot retreats, you'll get another cutscene with a message from Paulinus Agnetis and Warin Amcotes.  (An alternative would be to destroy the second wooden gate leading north into the castle to get a variant on the dialogue from these two captains before Talbot's final cutscene.)  Once Talbot has fled, return to the southeast stairs.

After climbing the stairs, replenish your supplies from the army; they won't be in range here soon.  For the second time, loop around Beaugency's outer wall counterclockwise, but this time continue heading due north, clearing out the enemy.  You'll encounter four leaderless Burgundian infantrymen and a large 8-man squad of crossbowmen along with two additional Burgundian infantry.  Five leaderless knights will stand in a row along the path as it curves northwest, and a 5-man squad of macemen will climb the stairs to fight you.  Of course, you may have (and should have) already finished-off many of these fellas!

Once you reach the northern tower, there will be a very large 20-man squad of explosive archers atop the northern gate, the largest enemy squad commanded by one captain in the entire game, as far as I can tell.  (This seems to be the upper limit, as your future King can command 20 men.)  If you wish, fire 10 or so explosive arrows into the group, and then as with the squad at the southern gate, sniper them one by one.  Take your time and watch your health, and you should be fine; as before, be sure not to destroy the north gate!  A 4-man squad of knights will ambush you from the rear (whom you saw in the earlier cutscene after you defeated Lord Talbot), so be ready for that.  Another strategy is to sniper the archers one-by-one, as they will follow you down the stairs to the east.  I prefer the latter strategy, so as to conserve explosive arrows.

After they are dead, continue west atop the northern gate.  A rather seizable skirmish awaits, as a large group of English will climb the stairs to fight you, including, Warin Amcotes and his 6-man squad of knights.  After defeating them between the two towers, have a look over the wall to the north.  Sir William Glasdale will be "spawning" soon straight to the north but not yet.  Before descending the stairs, climb the last tower to collect another L2 Rapid-fire crossbow; if your inventory is full, drop some bolts, arrows, and food on the upper balcony (so that you can see them later on) and then pick it up.  Be sure to climb the adjoining tower, also, to collect the goodies.  If you don't fight him earlier, Lord Talbot should be nearby!

Continue counterclockwise around the castle; you'll encounter two explosive archers, one of whom will likely descend the stairs.  After defeating the six leaderless knights and one Burgundian infantrymen, descend the stairs to defeat him WITHOUT going onto the turf of Beaugency!  Returning to the upper wall, you should be able to sniper the three crossbowmen on the ground below to the west of the castle, which will make life a little easier here soon.  Continue back around to the southeast stairs which, of course, you climbed earlier.

Once there, reposition Joan and the other commanders west of the trebuchet such that they form a vanguard which is facing EAST.  The closer they are to the trebuchet the greater the likelihood that they will be part of an upcoming cutscene, but as it is likely that you will spoil the cutscene, it is best to position them a little east of the stone bridge which crosses the Loire into Beaugency.  (If you want to try to position Joan so that she is in the cutscene, have her stand in the grass "12 feet" just west of an "empty patch" of grass; the trebuchet should be viewable in z-mode as far off in the distance as possible.)  Position Joan, Jean, Alencon, and Orleans in RTS mode so that they form a little wall, with the army behind them and Joan, as always, at the vanguard, if only by a little.  Position Orleans so that he is just behind the vanguard of the army (we don't want him dying, do we??)

Switch to La Hire, put everyone into a hold status, fill-up their troop inventories, descend the southeast stairs, and then go north into the castle toward the flashing 'X'.  The castle should be mostly clear at this point, except for Paulinus Agnetis' 6-man squad of polemen who are just south of the north gate and three crossbowmen on the castle's northeast side.  Do NOT head north to him.  Instead, send an bolt his way to get his and his men's attention.  After finishing them off, head due north to the gate.

You'll trigger a cutscene as you approach the north gate, and Sir William Glasdale will have spawned to its north, along with a large group of English.  More cutscenes will follow with Jean despairing about "inevitable" defeat, but have no fear!!  Sir Arthur de Richemont will have appeared!  Hooray!!  (Ha; he'll be nearly worthless as a commander, but that's besides the point, right?)  Watch Arthur's closely until he leaves us at the end of Mission 6; he dies easily.

First, some quick action.  Run straight to the north gate and close it!!  If you don't, Sir William and his pals will (as Jean states) "rush into the castle."  It is possible to fight three English generals at the same time, even four if you decide not to engage Lord Talbot, or even fight Talbot after you defeat the other three generals!  But, I would encourage you (as always) to "stick with the script," but just know that these alternate scenarios do exist.  After closing the north gate, hit Shift-6 to put de Richemont into a hold status.  We'll be fighting with him later on, so don't worry.  

Hopefully, you have followed my advice and not spoiled the two upcoming cutscenes, one from Lord Scales and the other from John Fastolf.  They, like Glasdale, are scripted to storm the castle.  However, there's a problem for them!  Joan and the army are in the way.  The AI will try to have them and their men "run around" the army, but their army will get decimated with the two English generals taking heavy damage.  If you decided to bring the French captains from Orleans with all the reserve troops, it will be almost certain that John Fastolf and Lord Scales will not be able to even enter Beaugency, but if you do that, you run the risk not only of losing a French captain but of having the Experience Points for Fastolf and Scales' defeat go to Dunois, d'Illers, etc., who will NOT be joining us for Mission 7!

If you have followed my advice, Scales and Fastolf, if they survive the encounter with your army, will enter Beaugency with some serious damage, at least 50% (probably more) of lost health; none, or at least very few, of their men from their 9-man squads will be coming with them.  After closing the north gate, quickly return to the hole in the southeast wall of Beaugency to finish them off.  (But, keep them AWAY from Orleans, if he should follow them!!)  Even though it is 2-on-1, they are relatively slow, and perhaps only a little stronger than Jean de Luxembourg, whom you will meet again at the end of Mission 8.  Fight them with regular bolts but stay in the southern area of Beaugency south of the remaining wooden gate (assuming that you did not destroy it.)  Since there are two of them, it's "bolts only," so do not even attempt any type of melee combat at least until their health is very low.  Enjoy the cutscenes from them.

Once Scales and Fastolf have been defeated, it is time for a little "house keeping":  1) Assign Arthur to follow Joan; 2) He brought a captain who has 9 troops, so pass the Seal of Antiquelis to Orleans and replenish his lost men; repeat with the Duke, and finally, assign the remainder to de Richemont (he can command a maximum of 14 men); 3) Give Arthur the three charms which Orleans has been carrying for him, a L1 Amulet of our Lord, and a good quantity of food for him and his men; 4) Replenish everyone's supplies and make sure that all of your troop inventories are full of bread & buns, as much as possible at least; 5) Leave the captain who came with de Richemont where he is; we'll be returning for him a little later; 6) Move everyone (except for Jean) over next to the trebuchet; and 7) Transfer Jean's men to La Hire, give him the longbow, and have him to go the north gate and open it; several leaderless macemen will attack you.

As for William Glasdale, he is scripted to attack which commander is closet to him, so it is likely that he will be moving around Beaugency in a vain attempt to reach him/her.  (You may be able to aim the trebuchet at him, or at least at some of the goodies.)  Once the northern gate is open, however, he will "sense" that and storm the castle.  (If he does not, then move Joan and the entire army on the SOUTH side of the south gate to get William's attention; keep Joan at the vanguard!!)  Potentially, you could close the north gate and hate Glasdale to death but we will NOT be doing that.  Instead, your job is easy.  Shoot him with regular bolts in the back until he falls.  As you'll be wash in a "sea of red," at least initially, start things off with five or so explosive arrows.  "Rinse and repeat," as needed.  Again, do your best to keep Glasdale on the NORTH side of the castle!

You'll probably notice that the AI seems "confused," as he will turn towards you as if to fight only to turn around on his winding path to reach Joan and the army.  If any of his men begin to make life difficult for you, break out some more explosive arrows, but keep wounding Glasdale.  By the time he reaches the army, if he reaches it, he will be rather "sore."  It is likely at this point that the French archers and/or you will bring him down, and he will retreat.  We'll be catching-up with him here soon!

Once Glasdale has fled, return to the army, letting your men finish-off his very large squad, consisting of (approximately -- hard to count on this one!) 5 English infantry, 5 polemen, and 10 knights; in addition, another 5-man squad of macemen and a 5-man squad of polemen will be joining him, so make sure that your troop inventories are full!  Watch Orleans' and Arthur's health VERY closely, so it's best to weaken William as much as possible, if not downing him completely BEFORE he reaches the army!

But first, some major backtracking.  Return to Beaugency's north gate to close it and then have La Hire destroy (unless you destroyed it earlier, which you should have), using energy moves, the south gate from the south side; you'll get a (worthless) message from the Duke telling you what you already know.  If you wish, pick-up the L2 Slayer which is in a treasure chest just north of the central wooden door so that the Duke can fight with it for a little bit, even though it will be an inferior weapon to what he already has.  (Have the Duke drop his L3 weapon south of the castle, but I recommend not doing this.)  Assign Arthur's lone captain and all of your now-five commanders to follow Joan, assign Jean's men back to him, and head east, avoiding the trebuchet.  If any of your commanders have lost men, assign the three infantrymen manning the trebuchet to them.

Park the army due south of Meung at the entrance of the "middle path" and have Joan go into Meung to buy all the food which she can, everything, selling off all of your commanders' apples.  Have Joan return to Orleans via the western gate with the captain who came with Arthur, Marceel Fruitier (hmmm...), and if you are low on troops, have one or more of your commanders accompany her.  Have her buy all the food at the shoppe in Orleans, and if insufficient men are not available for recruitment, have her exit out the east gate to recruit troops from your reserves; have her (and whoever is with her) return to the army via Orleans and Meung, retracing her exact path.  Of course, leave Marceel in Orleans with the other captains; the city will now have a grand total of 9 French captains within its walls.

After restoring the army to full-strength in men and food, enter the "middle path" leading back to Orleans.  A short distance after you enter it, you'll get ambushed by an 8-man squad of English knights who will take several seconds to spawn completely.  After finishing them off, continue east; about midway along the path, you'll encounter a short path up a shallow hill to your left.  After passing that, a 5-man squad of knights will spawn along with 5 leaderless crossbowmen at the top of the hill.  No big deal; just return quickly to help your men, who will, of course, be trailing you.  Focus on the crossbowmen while your army decimates the knights.  Climb the hill completely to have a look at the Loire down below.

The next town, Montargis, is "easy pickings."  Kill-off squad of 3 archers and 2 crossbowmen who are looking the "wrong way" (it's okay to shoot them in the back; they'll turn around) and quickly run-up to the jail cells for some dialogue but do NOT open any of the cell doors!  Continue northeast and finish-off the sizable mixed melee squad of 4 knights, 2 polemen, and 2 infantrymen just northeast of town, along the path back to Orleans.  After them, you'll encounter three infantrymen and two archers, all English and all leaderless.  Finally, you'll encounter the squad leader of five polemen and four archers who is on some sort of "suicide mission"; after finishing him off, eliminate his now leaderless squad on the shallow hill a short distance from the Loire.

Note that a small potential exists for the English to kill the civilians in the town; if they do that, you'll lose a side objective.  Also take note of the shallow hill where you are now at.  You'll be coming back to this hill again later to fight some English knights, OVER and OVER!!  This is why it is VERY important that you do NOT talk to the civilians.

Return to Montargis, which you just conquered, and pick up the prison key if you have not already done so, storing it in the Bastard's inventory.  You (Joan) try opening a cell door, followed by Jean; after that, pass the key to you (Jean) to free the imprisoned men.  They will talk to you but leave them standing in their now-opened cells, unless, of course, you have lost some men along the way.  Do not let Joan get close to them, as she will recruit them into her command.  They will give you a now-worthless hint as to what already happened long ago in the game.  But, first something that you ****MUST**** DO:

DO ******NOT****** TALK TO ANY OF THE NEWLY SPAWNED CIVILIANS!!!!!!  

(Especially, do not talk to either of the two old guys, one of whom will not talk to you anyway; the other three, two middle-age men and a nursing mother, will not talk to you either.)

If you do, you'll mess the game up, for reasons that I will describe later.  We'll be talking to the civilians later on near the end of the game.  Don't worry; you wont' be missing out on anything.  Clean-out the town, storing the Level 1 Warrior of Infinity in your inventory; we'll be selling it off later on.

Time to conquer Chateaudun.  Go back to St-Aignor, head south to the 4-way south of town, and then continue south into Chateaudun; lots of arrows, explosive and regular, and some bolts await.  Clean-out the eastern half of the town, pick up yet another L2 Tiger's eye gem and make sure that all of your now five commanders are close behind you before heading across the wooden bridge.  A split 7-man squad of 6 infantrymen commanded by a single knight await, so when you meet them on the bridge, "pull back" slightly to have several of your commanders (Arthur, especially; note how he uses his cool lance!) take the vanguard along with your men, then decimate them.  Three leaderless infantry are in the town's southwest corner; they will also join the fray.

Once the town is conquered, talk to the six newly appeared civilians if you wish.  (You don't have to talk to them right way; you will get the dialogue one time from each of them wherever they are, after which, they will ignore you.)  Clear the town of goodies and pick up another another L1 Warrior of Infinity or the L6 "Lord of Kings" sword, if you did not pick it up in Meung.

One of the civilians will give you a L2 Quartz Crystal.  They will start to "spread out" and begin to move all over the map.  The English *should* not kill them, but the Burgundians likely will (the later group should be completely dead at this point), so we'll have to make sure that this area stays completely clear, which should not be a problem whatsoever, unless you start leading enemies into this area of the map.  (Take note of my warning message just above!)

Finish moving some of your cannons west along the path to create a long-range "radar."  Do the same will Dunois' fauconneaus, by spreading them north along the wide path.  Doing this will allow you to "keep an eye" on the civilians to make sure that they are not wandering into dangerous territory (if you decided not to follow my instructions), or if any of them do, in fact, get killed.  They won't at this point, as the entire eastern & southern map will be completely clear of enemies.

Clear Joan's inventory of "non-essentials" (give the imperial scrolls and William's letter to Arthur) and then move everyone just south of Orleans next to the Loire, putting them into a hold status.  Send Joan by herself to Orleans to buy all of the bread and buns and then over to Meung to do the same.  Head south out of Meung, return to the army, release all of your commanders, and then return as a group to Beaugency along the "middle path" to collect any dropped goodies; the castle, of course, is not yet yours, but will be here soon!  Refill all of your commander's troop inventory entirely of bread & buns (except for the Duke, who should be hauling the Sword of Saint Catherine) and make sure that Arthur has plenty of food for himself.  If you wish, build a fauconneau (or cannon) and destroy the empty archer tower on the southeastern side of the castle.

Have Joan lead the army to the north gate.  Open it and prepare for a good-sized skirmish.  The gate is narrow and so it will take time for the army to make its way through (courtesy of the game's AI).  Joan's job is simple -- attack the 11 leaderless archers, beginning with the ones of her (your) far right, letting the army destroy the four leaderless polemen just ahead.  Joan needs to keep moving, focusing on the archers only, at least initially.  A large leaderless contingent of English consisting of ten macemen, ten infantry, and ten knights will join the fray (as best that I can count).  This will be a nasty battle, so watch your short-range map for any "red circles," and join the fray once most of the archers are dead, passing whatever breads & buns you have to those squads who are in need, which should *not* be the case with your very large army!

After the main contingent of English just north of Beaugency are dead, go northwest a bit to attract the attention of two 5-man squads, one of knights and the other of polemen, at the farthest western gate.  Note the three gates, which are closed for now.  Put Jean into a hold status, and head south.  Clean out a 5-man squad of Burgundian infantrymen and 4 leaderless English archers whom you saw atop the castle wall as you were traversing it, along with any remaining crossbowmen (probably one) whom you did not sniper earlier and keep heading south.  You can, if you wish, use your fauconneau (or cannon) to blast a hole in Beaugency's wall just to the east of its north gate, or even destroy the gate itself.  (You'll gain nothing by doing this, not even extra dialogue!)

A few goodies await just north of the Loire, including a L1 Diamond.  Once you're in range of the few remaining English soldiers, switch back to Jean and have him face due north.  Let the computer finish-off the rest of the English, so that Jean can watch the three gates open simultaneously, allowing you access to the rest of the game's Mission 5 & 6 map.  If, for some reason, Beaugency hasn't fallen, loop back around to the east of the castle; three or four leaderless macemen may be "hanging around".  After conquering them, the castle will be yours; quickly switch to Jean.  Note that if you are playing as Jean, the game code could take several minutes to realize that you have conquered Beaugency; just wait, or switch to Joan and then back to watch the gates open!  Switch back to her and visit the blacksmith to pick up a L3 Amulet of our Lord and the L3 Citrine Spiral Pendant for Jean, the medium-grade armor for La Hire.

Have everyone follow Joan and head due north to the gate that is farthest EAST (the one closest to Orleans).  Immediately, you'll encounter a 5-man squad of macemen followed by a 5-man squad of polemen, a 5-man squad of two explosive archers and three crossbowmen, a 5-man squad of knights, and a 5-man squad of Burgundian infantry.  Keep right, and take the first right, and stay right, ignoring the two side-paths to your left for now.  Be sure to break open the two crates just up the short path to your right.

Head back to Meung and finish-off the three leaderless English archers who are just to the northwest of your cannons and then turn left and go north to "de Bourges" (renamed, of course).  If necessary, return to Orleans alone (as Joan) to replenish any lost troops from your reserves, and then return to continue north-northwest to de Bourges.  (Do NOT enter the city, as your large army will get "stuck," at least temporarily.)  Go west, but SLOWLY (to allow your troops not to enter de Bourges, but they probably will anyway -- go into RTS mode to maneuver them out of the city) along the most northern path, hugging the left wall.

You'll encounter four 5-man squads English melee units -- knights, polemen, and after "turning the corner" (left) to head back in the direction of Beaugency, another set of knights and polemen.  After them will be three explosive archers .  Do NOT enter any of the towns to the northwest, but DO take a quick note of the "small gap" between a small peasant hut and very small hill leading to the northwest, towards the direction of the "flashing X" on your map.  Jean will be coming back to that gap here very soon.  Continue left around in a loop and take the path back to Meung, this time taking the first left on the winding path to the north.  Keep moving as some explosive archers on the hill to your right will be shooting at you.  (To make life much easier, you can and should sniper these fellas.)  A regular and explosive archer will likely come down to fire at your rearguard.

After traversing the short, winding path to the northeast, you'll get a message from La Hire about the town being destroyed.  Since he is trailing you (Joan), you'll likely first encounter a 5-man squad of macemen.  In any case, take revenge and kill-off the English, but do so quickly, as a 5-man squad of explosive archers will be at the top of the hill.  Take care of them while the rest of the army finishes-off the 5-man squad of knights.  Scour this very small town for goodies, which will include a L2 diamond.  Pass that to Arthur, as he is the weakest of your commanders.

Assign all of Jean's troops to you (Joan) and give him the longbow; put everyone, including Joan, into a hold status.  Have him (Jean) return north to that "small gap," the shortest route being down the winding path and then right, such that he is hugging the "right wall."  Switch to Z-mode and enter the gap (which is between the houses farthest to your right and the dirt mound); some houses will be to your immediate left with a small hill to your immediate right.  Run quickly, and after passing by the field of corn, shoot the infantryman who is holding the torch for one of the cannons.  (Do NOT, and I repeat, do ***NOT*** kill the other soldier who is maneuvering the cannon -- we practiced this for a reason back in Mission 5!!)

John Fastolf will quickly attack with a squad of 5 knights and 4 polemen (one or more who may get stuck behind the houses); Lord Scales may also attack if you go to far to the northwest.  Lead his squad back to de Bourges on the most northern path.  In theory, they will be willing to follow-you all over the map wherever you go (even all the way back to Jargeau), and while they will probably not attack any civilians, they will attack your cannon units.  To prevent this, reverse direction on the northern path about midway towards de Bourges.  Easy to do.  Once Fastolf has retreated, switch to z-mode to have a look up at Joan who is above you on the hill; switch to her to have a look down at Jean!  Just keep her and the rest of the commanders in a hold status, just in case.

If Lord Scales has not followed you, return to the small gap to attract his attention, snipering the other soldier who is holding the torch for the second cannon.  If you go beyond the edge of the small cornfield, the bombards across the field may take a "pot shot" at you or two, so if you get "knocked on your behind," you'll know where it is coming from.  To avoid this, send an arrow at one of Lord Scale's squad of 5 macemen and 4 polemen.  As with the other general, Lord Scales were deflect your arrows, but once you attack one of his men, the entire squad, him included, will attack you.  Rinse and repeat with Scales and his gang.

Return to attract Sir William's attention and do the same to him; his squad of 4 explosive archers, two crossbowmen and two knights will be a little more difficult, so stick to arrows.  Finally, return, hugging the "right wall" all the way to the northwestern part of the map to where Sir William's tent is, IGNORING the troops to the northwest who are camped-out on the hill.  A lone archer of Sir William is hiding out in the tent; if you do not kill him now, the mission could end without you doing so, so let's finish him off now.  Collect the Gryphon Ring in Sir William's tent and head back to the army VIA the "small gap" that you have been passing "to and fro," and go back to Joan along the path that she and you just recently traversed.  If you're careful, you can slip just north of the clock tower to grab the L2 Amulet of our Lord in the treasure chest.

Reassign Joan's men back to Jean and assign everyone to follow her.  Return south to the field north of Beaugency, via the most eastern gate.  After regrouping, head through the "middle gate" and run-up the hill, finishing-off the two crossbowmen, two explosive archers, one regular archer (to your right) and an explosive one (to your left), all leaderless.  Collect the L1 Diamond charm in the treasure chest at the end of the path.  Return quickly, as you will have attracted the attention of some more English; a 5-man squad of English infantry will attack you at your rearguard.  Put any of your commanders into a hold status if they try to engage these units or if they fail to follow you up the middle path.

Return to the field and head through the most western gate toward the north.  You'll encounter two explosive archers followed by four more as you work your way to the northwest, all leaderless.  A sizable English contingent awaits consisting of 2 leaderless crossbowmen, a squad of 7 polemen, a squad of 7 knights, and four leaderless explosive archers, two to your left and two further away to your right.  You (Joan) concentrate on the explosive archers, and let everyone else take care of the melee units.

After the battle, put everyone into a hold status and have Joan (you) collect any goodies dropped by the English.  Do NOT enter the town to the northwest!!!  (If you wish you can run up the hill to attract the attention of a 6-man squad of knights; one less squad to fight later on, and, so I suggest that you do this!  Ditto for the 5-man squad due north; might as well pick up Jean's new armor if you do this.)  Two goodies await just to your north, so go slowly into the town towards the central bell tower but remain SOUTH of it!  (The game could end prematurely if you don't!)  You'll acquire a L2 Amulet of our Lord (if you didn't pick it up a few moments earlier) and yet another longbow, both in treasure chests.  Have Joan return to the army and then make a timely "retreat"!

Return the army to just north of Beaugency, put everyone into a hold status, and then enter the castle alone (as Joan) to scour it for goodies.  If you haven't already done so, visit the blacksmith to pick up a L3 Amulet of our Lord and the L3 Citrine Spiral Pendant for Jean, the medium-grade armor for La Hire, sell-off the L2 weapon for the Duke ("the Slayer" -- it's worthless now), Jean's old L2 Citrine Spiral Pendant, and Arthur's L1 bow (and, the Bastard's, also, if you still have it.)  When finished at the blacksmith, head over to the shoppe to sell-off all your apples, and buy all of the chicken, ham, and fish, distributing accordingly.  You can watch as La Hire is "armed" with his new armor, by position the viewing with him on the right side, prior to hitting F1.

Head out of the north gate of Beaugency and loop around just to the east of the castle north of the Loire for an extra longbow, which is in a treasure chest, along with some other goodies.  Sell off the extra longbows at the blacksmith along with any other extra charms which are not on the list further below (or above).  Don't forget to smash the crates sitting on the upper path just outside the northwest section of the castle, as well as the opposite ones on its northeast side if you haven't got their goodies already.

Go back to Beaugency, lead the army into the castle and close the north gate behind you.  Go south in RTS mode looking for any goodies within the castle (especially, those near the inner castle walls); note the complete absence of any civilians other than the shoppe and blacksmith owners, except, perhaps, for one old guy who may wander into the castle.  Put everyone into a hold status and have Joan go atop the wall for one last look.  When you are on the most eastern wall of Beaugency, hit F2 to have a look back at Meung.  Exit on the southeast stairs, go open the central wooden gate, release the army, close the wooden gate if you wish, leave Beaugency via the southern gate (now gone) and say "goodbye"; we won't be coming back.  Be sure to pick-up Alencon's L3 weapon (south of the castle) if you left it there.

Head east on the south-most path; you will likely encounter some civilians who were spawned at Montargis on the middle path that you liberated earlier, the one with the jail cells; they'll be getting a (system) "call" here soon.  When you reach the entrance to Meung, take the most northern path, the one just south of the Loire; move the horse out of the way positioning it just west of the stone bridge next to the Loire, so that no one gets stuck by it.  Two civilians are hanging-out on the path next to the river; one will share some now-worthless information with you (do *NOT* talk to "Ami", however!), the other will give you a few rations; you can talk to them now or later, if you wish.  Pick up the Duke's L1 weapon, which should be easily visible from far away, if course, you had dropped it there earlier in the mission; we'll be selling it off here very soon.

Park everyone on the short hill where you had fought the group of English polemen and archers earlier, the hill that is a "stone's throe"/"arrow shot" from the bridge leading north across the Loire back to Orleans.  Position La Hire at the very top of the hill followed by Alencon, Orleans, and Jean, all in a straight line, with Arthur next to the opposite wall and his men behind him at the base of the hill.  Assign all of the range units to Arthur, with the remainder going to Jean.  (Recruit range units from the reserve troops if necessary.)  All the other commanders should have melee troops only.  (Use Joan as a "temp commander" to do this.)  Make sure that the south gate of the city remains closed.  Make sure that Orleans, Arthur and Alencon are maxed-out with 16, 14 and 15 troops respectively. Everyone, including Arthur, should have lots of food for themselves and their men, at least two columns for the latter.

After selling-off all your apples (you'll be "in range" of your commanders while at the shoppe), obsolete weapons, and excess charms, head out the eastern gate, closing it behind you.  Go say goodbye to Lucien's parents if you haven't (won't hurt to do it again), and then go recruit 9 MELEE troops from your reserves nearby.  Say goodbye to the others.  Hit F2 for one last look throughout the map for any goodies that you have not yet picked-up, and go talk to any civilians whom you did not speak to during Mission 5, which will include the three civilians at Saint florent Le-Saumur and the three at Chateaunet.  Have a peek at Jargeau in RTS mode for any goodies, and if you haven't spoken with them, go talk to the six civilians (note the "magic lake" while speaking to Ponce and another guy) at Chateaudun, or wherever they may have wandered off to.  Return to speak with the two civilians along the Loire on the path leading to Meung if need be, which may include one or more of the folks from Chateaudun.

At this time, all of your commanders should have the following charms (which I listed earlier):

Joan -- Level 2 Quartz Crystal, Level 1 Warrior of Infinity, Level 2 Hematite Bloodstone, Level 1 Amulet of Yahweh
Jean -- Level 2 Quartz Crystal, Level 2 Warrior of Infinity, Level 3 Citrine Spiral Pendant, Level 1 Amulet of Yahweh
La Hire -- Level 2 Quartz Crystal, Ring of Yahve, Level 3 Hematite Bloodstone, Level 2 Amulet of Yahweh
Alencon -- Level 2 Quartz Crystal, Level 1 Warrior of Infinity, Level 1 Hematite Bloodstone, Level 2 Amulet of Yahweh
Orleans -- Level 2 Quartz Crystal, Level 2 Warrior of Infinity, Level 1 Holy Protection Ring, Level 3 Amulet of Yahweh
Arthur -- Level 2 Quartz Crystal, Level 2 Citrine Spiral Pendant, Level 2 Diamond, Level 2 Amulet of Yahweh

Go back to Montargis and go up behind the jail cells to the northwest; there's a "hidden path" which gives a decent view of the Loire.  After that, go talk to the old man ("Ami"); he'll likely be by himself, as his four townsfolk will have gone west, even as far as Beaugency.  (This is why we did not liberate the town until after Beaugency was conquered; the town's civilians would have been killed, which would have cost you an objective, at least partly.)  The town is starving; they need food and want an escort back to Orleans, notwithstanding the fact that they will have likely all left the town save the old gentleman!

After talking to him, he will start heading back to Orleans along the path towards the hill where your men are.  The program is scripted to start spawning English knights on the hill, but as it is occupied by your massive army, this may not take place, at least not right away.  In any case, follow the old man back to Orleans and stay close.  Other civilians who have wandered off from the village will also start to make their way back, some on the path next to the Loire, five in all.  Give them time to collect at the south gate of Orleans, and then open it, and watch as they move into the city one-by-one.  You'll get 2,000 Exp points for each civilian, for a total of 10,000.  You need to save only one to fulfill the objective, but we want to save all five, and if you have followed my instructions, this will be absolutely no problem for you to do.

The mission is almost over, in terms of objectives, but you have five to ten hours of work ahead of you.  If you are going to use the Bastard (and, especially, his men) in Missions 7 & 8, you will need to increase his health points, and the only way to do that is to spawn many English knights on the hill where he is at now.  Keep the same formation as before, and keep Joan moving along the path northeast of Montargis, at least until she finds the "sweet spot" (see below).  Hit F2 for a "front row" seat, and using ',' and '.' to rotate the camera and '+' and '-' to zoom in and out, center your field of view on the action below; a "front" and "rear" perspective provide the best views, so alternative between those.  Before proceeding, sell-off all of your excess charms, storing your extra crossbows with your commanders (except Arthur, of course.)

We need to get the Bastard to at least Level 20, and until then, keep a close eye on your HUD at all times while enjoying the show!  To do this, we need to (once again) keep each of your commanders at his maximum troop capacity -- 9 each for Jean and La Hire, 15 for the Duke, 16 for Orleans, and 14 for Arthur; as such, keep a good eye on your troop inventories.  During this process, Arthur will, inevitably level-up from 15 to 17 (or beyond); just reposition him at the bottom of the hill facing east next to "the wall" with his range troops behind him in a PERPETUAL hold status.  Verify again that the Bastard has the L3 Amulet of our Lord.  Switch commanders by pressing '2', '3', or '4', and then F2 to hear their dialogue as the computer controls them.  Switch Jean with Joan at least one time after identifying the "sweet spot."  Now is a good time to fight with each of your commanders so as to hear their various dialogues.

Soon the Bastard should be leveled-up to the point that he is at least mildly safe with the other three commanders, but until then, keep a close eye on him; we don't want him getting killed.  Have Joan (and, eventually, Jean) and her (his) men run "back and forth" along the path until Orleans reaches Level 20 (or 22), assuming that you cannot find the "sweet spot" or it isn't working.  When this happens, TRANSFER ***ALL*** of Arthur's charms over to Joan for safe keeping, along with his spear (which he has not needed here recently anyway) and ALL of his food!!.  (This is VERY important!!!)  Arthur will not be joining us after Mission 6, which means that he will take with him what he has when this mission ends.  Note that if Arthur should read Level 18, you won't be able to increase any of his character attributes; why, I don't know -- for some reason, Enlight capped him at Level 17 (at least for some of my games; others he can go beyond Level 18!)

The "sweet spot" is easy to find; it's were Joan can stand motionless to continue to spawn English knights on the hill.  To find it, go northwest toward Montargis and stop just before the last tree where the path shifts to the west, a "dog leg."  Make sure that Joan's men are standings behind her; they should be.  When you've found it, switch to RTS mode and enjoy the action, at least for before the inevitable "apple maintenance" which I will soon describe.  Invariably, you will, on occasion, have to move your commanders and/or troops around on the hill to allow the English knights to spawn -- same issue as to why a cutscene would fail to show in earlier levels.

If you find the "sweet spot," the game should become "self-sufficient."  In "theory," you could leave the game run by itself for a hour or so at a time, get a cup of coffee, go to the store, or even do some yard work.  I can't, of course, guarantee that the Bastard won't die or that the game won't crash, as I doubt very much that anyone in the world has done this type of "stress test," especially, for an even longer period of time.  If you do decide to do this (and, I do NOT recommend do so!), keep Joan at the hill with Jean at the "sweat spot," as she is a better and more aggressive fighter and will provide more protection for the Bastard.  If any civilians wander onto the hill, they will likely be safe, as the English will be focusing on you and not them.  Just to be safe, however, if any civilians get too close, have Jean (or Joan) push them out of the area.

The game will, at this point, have a "positive expected value," which means that if you were gambling, the statistics would clearly favor you and not "the house."  In our case, your large army atop the hill will contain any English who spawn and Arthur's 14 range soldiers will simply decimate them when they do.  In the process of dying, they will drop buns, bread, and fish, plus gold, giving your troops an endless supply of food to replenish themselves, more than they need, in addition to allowing you to acquire at least 150K in gold when you finally decide to quit.  You can speak things up a bit by removing any of your commanders who reach Level 22 from the hill, swapping him (or her) with whomever is at the "sweet spot"; keep the Duke on the hill no matter what, along with at least one other commander, along with Orleans (for a total of four commanders at all times on the hill.)

They will, however, also drop apples, which means that if you left the game to "its own devices," all your commanders' inventories will eventually fill-up completely with apples, which will result in the inevitable destruction of all your troops, and perhaps your commanders as well.  (They, but not their squads, will still be able to pick up food directly on the ground.)  Don't worry, however; this is a very slow process, so it is best to let everyone's inventories fill-up, as this will leave the battlefield full of food, just in case Orleans is ever in need of health, which will always be the case at some point!  When Orleans reaches Level 21 (if you decide to go that far), transfer everyone's apples to Jean and send him back to the shoppe in Orleans to sell-off everyone's apples.  Rinse and repeat.  You can also bring Arthur up on the hill to see him fight; just be sure to keep a good eye on his health and those of his men!

After the Bastard reaches level 20, he will *probably* be able to survive indefinitely by picking-up food, provided your other commanders' inventories are full, which will, of course, prevent them from picking-up the dropped food.  You could continue to level him and your other commanders up until level 30, but you will have to "empty out" all your commanders' continuously building inventory of apples at least once every several hours, and it will likely take days or even weeks (months?) of work to get everyone to level 30.  It is, of course, up to you if you want to do this or not.  Just be sure to save your game periodically, as it may end-up crashing.  I would recommend quiting when all of your commanders, especially Orleans (and excluding, of course, Arthur) have reached Level 22 and you have acquired 150K in gold.  You can also position the Bastard at the "sweet spot" and bring Joan onto the hill to speed things up.

When you reach 140K, send Joan to the shoppe in Orleans.  Move your men to the bottom of the hill to verify that all of the fighting has stopped.  To clear a 4x4 space in Joan's inventory (we'll be buying some armor for Jean soon, assuming, of course, that you didn't buy it earlier!), sell-off Arthur's spear at the blacksmith.  Leave all the other commanders on the hill, filling-up everyone's inventory (except Arthur's) with as much food as they can carry.  Clear the hill of items, selling off all the applies and buns but keep ALL of the fish and as many loaves & buns as you can carry; use Arthur to transfer items (especially fish, which you should try to save).

Reposition the commanders on the hill such that Jean is a the top of the hill in the southwest corner, La Hire & Alencon midway down in a "skirmish" line, and the Bastard behind them with Arthur, as he was, at the bottom of the hill next to the eastern wall facing east with his range units behind him.  If there are no civilians in the area, you can "breathe easily," however, it is possible for civilians to wander into the "trigger zone," which, if you leave the area, will result in more English knights spawning and then perhaps killing those innocent civilians.  So, to, once again, "remain in character," we'll leave a sizable contingent of troops behind to guard the area, all of whom should be in a perpetual hold status.

From now until the end of the game, you'll need to keep an good eye on your HUD -- if the anyone engages in battle, switch back to Jean!  Make sure that he is equipped with some explosive bolts (he should have a crossbow already), just in case!!  Given you've stopped at 140K, you should have enough items on the hill to reach 150K; if not, resume the fighting on the hill!  But I would recommend planning carefully so as to *not* do this!

Verify that you have transferred Arthur's charms over to you (leave him with a few breads in his main and troop inventory, just in case), take the longbow (which you should have), and head back to Orleans through the south gate.  When inside the city, quickly close the gate behind you, locking your own troops out.  (Joan should ONLY have melee troops; no range troops.  If such is not the case, "make it so"!)  Verify that you have sold-off any obsolete weapons or charms, and especially, all apples, and if necessary, do so at the shoppe blacksmith.  (At this point all of your commander's inventories, except for Arthur should be completely packed full of food, especially, fish!)  After that, head over to the western gate.

Climb the stairs to the north of the gate and then turn left and head south.  The entire balcony is, of course, open and has been since Mission 5.  Switch to Z-mode to circle the city, go onto all the balconies and have a look around.  When you get to the southwest balcony (very soon), exit out of z-mode and into RTS mode.  Face southwest on the overhang and hit F2, pause, and then hit F2 again -- as the camera spins, you'll be able to easily see Meung to the southwest, and with just a little effort, some of the towers of Beaugency, also (although, I may be imagining things here!).  Unfortunately, the same "trick" will not work with Jargeau to the southeast.  Continue around Orleans and take your time; we'll be leaving soon.

After returning to the western gate, go down the stairs, open and close the gate, open the drawbridge (if the latter is closed); move onto the drawbridge, reverse direction so that you're facing Orleans and go backwards to the west, hitting 'R' to close the drawbridge.  Switch to Z-mode before exiting the drawbridge and then watch it close.  Goodbye Orleans!!  We will not be seeing the city again for the remainder of the game.

Head toward the northern gate of Meung and open it (if it is not destroyed.)  Switch back to Jean, and have him send all of your men via RTS over to the eastern side of Meung.  Switch back to Joan and put Jean back into a hold status.  Wait for your men move to rejoin you (which will take a few minutes); after regrouping, continue on the path to the northwest back to the field north of Beaugency.  Take the farthest path to the west, next to the path leading up the hill to the west.  Go back to the field where you fought a skirmish earlier and then head due west up the small hill.

Fight off the 6-man squad of English knights (if you did not kill them earlier), talk (twice) to the shoppe owner and go due north and let your men finish off the 3-man squad of polemen while you take-out the two bombards.  (Note that the game may go "wacko", and Joan may try to attack the remaining English as part of your cutscene.  Press 'Esc' if this should happen!)  Of course, all of this is assuming that you did not kill-off these fellas earlier, while buying Jean's new armor!

Quickly head over to the blacksmith, ignoring the lone two English soldiers down below.  Talk twice, pick up Jean's new armor (if you bought it already, skip ahead!), and retrace your steps exactly to the northeast (NOT southeast) corner of Meung; switch to him, transfer a 4x4 section of his inventory to Arthur, transfer his new armor to him, switch to La Hire and witness Jean getting his new armor.  After this, pass as much food from Arthur and you to him and your other commanders as they can hold.  Make sure that you and your commanders together have at least 150 explosive arrows and/or bolts and at least 300 regular ones, along with a full inventory of food.  If not, return to the hill for some more fighting, and after filling-up everyone's main and troop inventories, retrace your steps in RTS mode via Meung back to the blacksmith where you bought Jean's armor; pick-up any missed gold along the way.

After any necessary collecting, the two lone (and loyal!) infantrymen manning the cannons below are all that are left!  Be sure to read your three (or "four"?) letters from Mission 5 if you have not already done so (Arthur should have them, so switch to Jean); they won't be coming with us on Mission 7!  (Let Arthur take them with him "wherever" he goes.)  Go up to them and let your men do the "dirty work."  You'll have liberated the remaining towns of Tours & Patay (although, the map may not reflect this!) and will have five or so seconds at this point to do what you want before the mission ends -- switch back to Jean or run northwest toward the Void are two possibilities.  (You can also check the map to see if the remaining town is red; trying running toward it, if that is the case!)

Mission 7 -- Impasse

This mission is really a side-quest.  The game does not really need it, and I am not sure that it was even "in character" for this period in Joan's life.  Well, it's just a game, right?!  "Last things first," however -- make sure that Joan reaches Level 25 before the end of this mission.  We want Jean, La Hire, and Alencon to reach Level 25 before the end of the game in Mission 8, but for Joan to reach Level 30, she'll need to reach Level 25 before the end of this mission.  If she's at Level 24 at the end of this mission (she should NOT be any LOWER than that!), she'll basically have to clear Mission 8 all by herself!  Finally, you'll encounter your greatest diversity of enemy troops on this level; every kind of troop you've seen plus a host of new troops, some of whom you will not see again in Mission 8.

Arthur is gone, and you're in an unknown territory, presumably somewhere northeast of Orleans, far to the north of where you began the game in Mission 1.  You are in a French camp (Barrack "de la menace" -- ha!) which is guarded by a small French unit of archers (commanded by Henric Bouchier -- more on him later), which will probably not see much, if any, action.  First some housekeeping -- give the Seal of Antiquelis to Orleans (have him drop a food item) and transfer all of Joan and Jean's troops to him, and repeat with the Duke (ditto) but as always, have Alencon recruit manually.  (Make sure that you return the Seal of Antiquelis to Joan and replace it with the charms which Orleans & the Duke had -- a good idea to "verify charms" before each battle!!)  Pick up the dropped food.

At the end of these reassignments, Joan should have no troops, Jean should have 5, La Hire should have 9, the Duke should have 15, and Orleans should have 16.  Put everyone into a hold status and scour the camp for goodies.  A barracks is available, but do NOT recruit any additional troops.  Enjoy the neat waterfall scene, the first since the first mission!  (It's very similar, if not identical.)  As your main and troop inventories should be all full, we'll be returning for the goodies (some explosive arrows) in the crates next to the waterfall later on.

Have Joan exit the camp by herself and go directly toward the wooden bridge.  (Don't worry; you can't fall into the rapids below.)  Do ***NOT*** cross the bridge; just go up near to the end to trigger the cutscene from Jean.  After his dialogue, look to your left and take note of the mixed group of English (a 4-man macemen squad) & Mercenary soldiers (a 6-man infantry squad) in their cool red & blue uniforms, along with six Mercenary archers, three to the left and three to the right, all of whom are leaderless.  (Jean was right, wasn't he?!).  Have a good look at them, because when you come this way a little later in the mission, most of them (we hope) will be gone, but more on that later.

Retrace your steps and exit the bridge, switching into z-mode, and then hug the river moving SLOWLY to the east.  You'll see a wagon "queued-up" for the next cutscene (unless it's raining!)  The wagon is indestructible, just in case you have any urges to destroy it with explosive arrows.  Instead, shoot the soldier manning the arbalest with a regular arrow (preferably, a bolt, as your L4 crossbow is more powerful!), and then continue moving east SLOWLY until you trigger the cutscene.

When you are done sight-seeing, release everyone out of their hold status, and SLOWLY head east just a SHORT (in the direction of the river) distance.  This time hug the right wall until everyone has left the camp and then put them back into a hold status and go back and close the wooden gate.  Return to the vanguard and release everyone; continue to move east hugging the "right wall."

Do NOT approach the castle and do NOT shoot the gate and/or the surrounding structure with explosive and/or regular arrows.  (Doing so will make life really, really difficult for you, as enemy archers will surround the castle.)  Even though you have plenty of ammo, men and supplies and could easily conquer Saint Pierre le Moutier (whew, that was a "mouth full"!), doing so will cost you cutscenes and EXP points, so we will not be doing that.  After passing the entrance to the castle, you'll have a sizable skirmish.

As Alencon has hinted, you're going to do some recruiting here shorty.  Remember the following maxim, which shall serve you well -- "Only suckers pay 'full price'!"  When you go into battle, focus on the mercenary units first, killing their captain, if they have one (we don't need them, except, for the three Mercenary explosive archer captains and at least one melee Mercenary captain which are waiting for you in Saint Pierre le Moutier), and then damage his men to the point where they are "easily bribed."

A couple of hits with your sword will "lower the bribe"; do some experimenting, and if you kill one or more off by accident, no big deal.  Just start recruiting on at least a casual basis, and make sure that your troop inventory continues to be well-stocked.  Only one shoppe exists on this mission (which is located in the castle), so if you leveled Orleans up to 22 on the previous mission, you should have an ample food supply, full in fact, if you followed my instructions.  Not to worry; this level has an ample food supply.

After passing by the main (and only) entrance to Saint Pierre le Moutier, creep slowly until the leaderless squad of 4 Mercenary infantry attack.  Recruit all of them.  Just to their east is a larger contingent of a 4-man squad of Burgundian archers, a 6-man squad of Mercenary polemen, a 6-man squad of Mercenary infantry, a 6-man squad of English infantry, and two 3-man squads of English archers, all leaderless.  Sniper the leading Burgundian archers from afar and then attack the polemen (as your army at present has no polemen), recruiting five of them.  After that, take out the infantrymen.  Let the Bastard's archers take care of the English archers.

As the mission progresses, you'll likely lose some men, as your large supply of troop food will begin to run low here soon.  (To conserve food, do NOT transfer food from your main inventories, as we will need that extra supply when we attack La Charite-sur-Loire!)  Fortunately, an ample supply of mercenaries exists on this mission, and the easiest way to recruit replacements for lost troops is to fire an arrow or bolt (preferably, the latter) at a mercenary, and when they approach, hit them with your sword ("regular blows" -- no energy ones, as we do not want to kill them!) and then recruit one by one.  Rinse and repeat as necessary.  In the end, a live, but weak, mercenary will be cheaper than a loaf of bread!

Before going across the short bridge which goes over the river, assign as many of Joan's troops to Jean as you can (should be 4).  Ignore the camp which is a little further to the east.  As with the other four camps, conquering it is, technically, a side objective, and hence, optional, but we will be capturing it later on (unless its archers start shooting at you, in which case, I would just conquer it now, but see below!)  Instead, cross the bridge just east of the castle but pause just before its end.  Switch to z-mode and sniper the soldier manning the arbalest just to your left.  After this, sniper, if you wish, each of the six leaderless archers below with one shot at a time, as the ones to the right are prone to move after they get hit.  (As for me, I just leave them and charge into battle, killing them off then.)

Down below are groups of leaderless 6-man enemy units, English polemen, Burgundian infantry, (two groups of) English infantry, macemen, polemen, and Mercenary infantry.  Engage them and recruit more Mercenary infantry.  Just keep a decent count; these fellows will be joining-up with whichever commander has lost men, so reassign them as needed after each skirmish, until your commander's command is full and leave any "extras" where they are when your (Joan's) command is full.

Continue due north, avoiding the paths to your right (east).  Off in the distance, you'll see a small hut for Alencon to use (which we don't need), identical to those in the earlier missions.  Stay to its left and continue north; do not attack the four Mercenary archers who are southeast of the hut.  After skirmishes with a 6-man group of English polemen, a 4-man group of Mercenary polemen, and a 4-man group of Burgundian infantry, all of whom are leaderless, you will soon come to a small fort (Camp Varzy) to your left.  That's our next target; enjoy the brief cutscene and prepare for a nasty brawl.

It will, as they say in other fps games, be a "tough room", so you better have a full army at this point.  To make life easier, wait for the melee units to attack you, which will consist, ultimately, of three 7-man squads, Burgundian infantry and two squads of English knights.  After defeating them outside of the camp, storm it with the entire army right behind you, with you at the vanguard (as always), armed with explosive bolts (which fire faster than arrows, so choose the Sentinel crossbow).  Inside, you'll encounter four 5-man squads of Burgundian archers, who'll quickly drain the health of you and your men; as such, try pausing for a bit at the camp's entrance to drain the health of the enemy archers as much as you can.

Get everyone into the camp as quickly as possible, so plan on using 25 or so explosive bolts to keep the enemy archers "on their backs" and/or running.  Then, when everyone (or nearly everyone) is in the camp, join the fray.  As long as the archers are moving or are on the ground, they won't be able to attack you.  You'll take some damage on this one, so keep your troop inventories full of food and watch Alencon's troop inventory every five seconds.  Lastly, head over to the wagon near the river and watch as your men destroy it.

Once the wagon has been destroyed, you'll be on a timer!  Don't worry about getting everyone out of the camp (of course, don't close the drawbridge); instead, get out of the camp, wait a minute for your commanders to catch-up, and head due north into another village ("des champs du nord" -- were the level designers kidding here?!) and you'll soon get a new objective that you'll need to "sow the seeds of mistrust" between the mercenaries and English/Burgundian alliance by having your new mercenary allies kill 20 English and/or Burgundian soldiers.  Enjoy the game's dialogue as you are actively fighting!  This objective may be fulfilled very quickly; if not, you may witness enemies killing each other prior to receiving the "official" objective!

Fortunately, we have already been recruiting mercenaries, so attack the town but try not to kill anyone individually.  Instead, damage each enemy soldier, such that you're men are able to finish them off; you'll encounter two 5-man squads of Mercenary infantry, a 5-man squad of Burgundian infantry and three 3-man squads of Mercenary archers.  Finally, put Jean and La Hire into a hold status on the SOUTH SIDE of the small town's entrance (whose population was killed-off, or so the game says); they'll be fighting a boss here soon.  It is VERY IMPORTANT that Jean and La Hire are within the town's "city limits," otherwise, you will lose a cutscene.  So, keep them just behind the town's south fence; make adjustments as necessary, as they will both try to move south.

Continue north to the French town ("St Thomas sur le pont"), which is well-populated, as is evidenced by all the white dots moving around, but do ****NOT**** approach the stone bridge.  Park Alencon and Orleans close to the town's entrance (but away from the bridge) but do so quickly.  You (Joan) move a little to the west but not too far, just next to the big dirt pill which is to the west of the town's bridge.  Just wait.  You'll get some a few cutscenes -- Matthew Gough is worried about the gold shipment not arriving, and he's own his way, along with his men (some of whom will attack you before him.)  Another cutscene will follow when he stops at Varzy.  If you left some troops inside the fort, you'll get a slightly different dialogue from him.

Around this time, Alencon will warn you of a mercenary attack, which will consist of two 5-man squads of Mercenary infantry and a 4-man squad of Mercenary polemen.  If necessary, let Jean & La Hire take care of Gough (which you can "watch" on the long-range map), and as soon as you get the Duke's warning with the corresponding cutscene, switch to z-mode and gradually start making your way west.  Break out your regular bolts and start wounding each mercenary one-by-one who are all running toward the town.  Let your men finish-off each soldier, and if necessary, recruit mercenaries to replace any fallen men of yours.  You can fight Gough as Jean prior to the Duke's warning, and if Gough retreats, bring La Hire to Joan but leave Jean where he is.  If Gough does not show-up within 5 minutes, just continue onward, leaving Jean where he is.

After this, verify that Jean & La Hire are completely clear of enemies, as an enemy archer will sometimes be snipering them slowly to death, as they stand in formation oblivious to that fact.  (It's not a bug, but a feature!)  You'll be invited by Jean to go into the town.  Do ***NOT*** do this, or even approach the stone bridge.  We do not want the civilians leaving the town, and the program has scripted them to start doing so "more aggressively" as soon as you enter!!

Basically, the townspeople want their gold back, which is what their leaders are going to tell you once you enter.  One caveat for this next objective is that they are going to "take half" of WHATEVER you pick up (it's the way the program was written), which means that if you return with 130, they'll take 65, which is why were are going to return with a 100.  Basic accounting principles at work here, so do not pick anything up!  We'll be returning for "clean-up later on!!

If, for some reason, I am wrong and the townspeople start moving about very quickly, they will be killed if they encounter enemy troops (which means that you could lose some dialogue), so head due west and quickly with the Duke, Orleans, and La Hire ONLY.  Park Jean via RTS mode in the center of "des champs du nord", so that he does not try to follow Joan; we'll be checking-in with him later.

After La Hire rejoins the group, head for a 2-man squad of archers, a 3-man squad of polemen, and a 3-man squad of infantry, all Mercenary, who are in the nearby southwest corner.  Go up against the earthen wall to attract another 2-man Mercenary archer squad and a lone English infantryman on the other side.  After finishing these fellas off, head up the hill to the west (ignore the camp to your right for now); two additional leaderless English infantrymen are yours for taking but do not engage the heavy Burgundian infantry who you will be able to see off in the distance.

Before proceeding south, backtrack up the adjoining hill to your northeast.  A 5-man squad of heavy Burgundian infantry (a new enemy who are basically English knights but are more powerful) and a 3-man and 4-man squad of Mercenary archers are all together in another fort (Camp de Decize), which will be flashing red if the Alliance has fallen.  Do NOT collect goodies or gold; you need to keep moving!!  It is very important to clear this camp of enemies, as civilians from St Thomas sur le pont will, eventually, wander into this camp.  Do a final check with Jean, and if any civilians are wandering south, have Jean push them back north.  Rinse and repeat as necessary.  Be sure to keep Jean in a Hold status!!

Go south on the wide path back to the Barrack of "de la menace" (where you started out, if you have forgotten the name.)  Ten heavy Burgundian knights await along with five English infantry, all leaderless.  Mercenary units are immediately south of them consisting of a 2-man squad of archers and leaderless groups of 4 infantry, 4 polemen, and 3 archers.  Keep killing and keep recruiting, if necessary.  Soon, if you have been letting your men do as much of the killing as possible, the mercenary alliance will crumble.  After this, the mercenaries will start attacking the English/Burgundians and vice-a-versa.

After the first battle with the knights is over, quickly switch back to Jean for a quick "civilian check."  If all civilians are to the north of him, no problem; if not, have Joan continue south under the control of the computer while you (Jean) "push" on the civilians, keeping them to the north.  Alternate back and forth as necessary.  Just make sure that troop inventories remain full.  Ignore the two arbalests on the western side of Saint Pierre le Moutier; we'll be killing them off later on.  As you continue south, you'll encounter three Mercenary archers, two 3-man groups of Mercenary infantry, four Burgundian infantry, four Burgundian archers, two 3-man groups of English crossbowmen, and finally, four English polemen, all leaderless and all facing the "wrong" way!

If the English & Mercenary alliance has fallen, the path to the south should be pretty clear of enemies; otherwise, you'll have a nasty skirmish with the four English macemen, six Mercenary infantry, and six Mercenary archers, whom you saw at the start of the mission as you stood at the end of the wooden bridge.  If necessary, finish them off and then "loop back" to Jean, hugging the "right wall" as before and avoiding the castle.  (If the main gate of Saint Pierre le Mountier is open, then Matthew Gough was a no-show!)  Regroup with Jean at the small wooden hut just east of the castle.  Note the "flashing red light" of the camp (du Donzy) to your right; it's under attack, assuming, of course, that the Alliance has fallen.  Assign Jean back to you and put everyone into a hold status.

Head back alone to a point south of Varzy, along the eastern wall of Saint Pierre le Mountier.  We need to eliminate a three more arbalests, two of which are on the north side of the castle and one that is on the east side.  Hit F2 to see where they are:  1) the one on the east side cannot be reached by regular ammo, so fire an explosive bolt at it when your reticle turns green; 2) Go inside Camp Varzy alone and find the next arbalest on the castle's north-northeastern side and kill the soldier manning it with regular bolts; 3) Go over to the river adjoining Varzy to the camp's southwest side to find the next arbalest on the castle's north-northwestern side and destroy it using explosive bolts.  Clean-out Varzy of everything (gold included) and close the drawbridge behind you when exiting.  We are doing this to take every precaution to avoid some civilians being killed later on.

Head back to the army.  Release everyone out of their hold status and head to the camp with the flashing symbol, assuming, of course, that the Alliance has fallen.  A leaderless group of 4 Mercenary archers stand in your way.  After defeating them, finish-off the leaderless group of 5 English infantrymen, and then conquer this camp (de Donzy) that is just to the east-southeast of the wooden hut, which will consist of a 5-man squad of English infantry and a 5-man squad of Mercenary polemen, along with two 2-man squads of Mercenary archers, who will already have been shooting at you.  Once the camp is yours, quickly exiting to the south, taking the "middle path" to your right towards Saint Pierre le Mountier, avoiding the two forts to the east and southeast, and, of course, remain NORTH of the river!

After entering the "middle path", loop around to sniper another leaderless group of four Mercenary archers and watch your EXP points rise!  As you will have outran your army, wait for them to catch-up with you; all of your commanders and men will likely follow directly south on the path from de Donzy.  Don't worry about the camp that is just "over the hill" (no pun intended); we'll be catching up to them soon enough.  Check your troop inventories, as the next skirmish is going to be a bit nasty.

After regrouping, head southeast and destroy the six leaderless English knights who are blocking the path ahead of you, and fire an arrow or two to attract the attention of the melee units just north of the southeast camp (de Bois) just ahead, which will consist of six heavy Burgundian infantrymen, six English infantrymen, and six Mercenary polemen, unless, of course, the Alliance has fallen, in which case the Mercenary polemen will likely be "missing"!

The de Bois camp contains four 4-man squads of Burgundian archers who are stationed in each corner of the camp.  These fellas will be nasty, so break out a couple of explosive arrows once again just to get the fighting started.  A new bow awaits you in this camp (a Level 4 Recursive bow); it's in a treasure chest in a tent on the center-eastern side of the camp.  If you can't find it, no big deal; just do not waste any time trying to do so.  (Go into RTS mode to see the treasure chest.)  Be sure to close the south gate of the camp to prevent any civilians from wandering into enemy territory once Saint Pierre le Moutier has been conquered.  Other than that, leave everything and head SLOWLY due NORTH and PAUSE to allow your men to exit the camp.

Time to conquer the far eastern camp (de Cercy la tour), but first, some housekeeping:  1)  Move your new bow to active use and give the longbow the Jean; 2) Ration your troops' food supply if you have not done so already -- one column of food for each of your commanders, except for you (Joan), who will need a second row, as you (as usual) will be at the vanguard when the fighting starts; 3) Recruit additional troops to replace any loses, by going back to Barrack "de la menace" if necessary.  If #3 is necessary, put everyone into a hold status, assign your (Joan's) troops to those of your commanders who are "in need" and then go and recruit more; make sure that no civilians are in the area, before and after recruiting.  If any are south of Varzy, skip this step.

The next camp, de Cercy la tour, is nasty.  Approach it in z-mode and sniper the four Burgundian archers, two squad captains and two regulars, next to the stream in each of the towers from south to just north of the drawbridge; don't worry about the two others who are north of the drawbridge as well as the two Burgundian captains who are in the two towers father to the east.  (Try using the recurve bow and then the longbow to compare the two!)  We'll be getting to them here soon.

After that, storm the camp with explosive bolts at the ready, but stop at the gate after crossing the drawbridge or wherever you first encounter resistance.  You'll encounter a 6-man squad of English polemen followed by a 7-man squad of Burgundian infantry, two 4-man squads of English polemen, and two 4-man squads of English infantry.  Fight everyone at point-blank range, firing explosive bolts as the enemy "piles up" (literally and figuratively) at the first gate to the camp.  Let your men finish-off any of the stragglers who survive your initial assault.

Continue on into the inner camp, firing another round of explosive bolts; you'll encounter a 6-man squad and 5-man squad of Burgundian infantry with a 4-man squad of English archers behind them.  Switch to regular bolts or arrows to take out the archers and then return west, going up the hill to your right.  Finish off the two remaining Burgundian archers in the towers who are north of the drawbridge and the 2-man squad of crossbowmen to your north.  Go back down the hill and up the adjoining one to finish-off the remaining 2-man squad of crossbowmen to the south.  Let your troops finish any remaining melee combat.  Once again, do not collect any items and do NOT open any treasure chests.  We'll be coming back soon for that and a love letter!

Head back to the small wooden bridge east of Saint Pierre le Moutier that crosses the river and go southeast, the fifth and final camp (Pouges les Eaux) awaits!  As before, storm the camp with five to ten explosive arrows or bolts and then break-out the regular ones.  Let your troops perform the melee combat while you take care of the squad of three archers stationed in the camp's towers while your commanders and men battle two 4-man squads of polemen, a 4-man and 6-man squad of infantry, and a 2-man squad of archers, all Mercenary.  As before, do not pick anything up.  (If you wish, recruit one of the enemy generals -- see below; it's best, so that they are not killed, to recruit one of the archer captains to your right as you enter the camp.)

Once the camp is yours, exit and then turn left (southeast) at the end of the wooden bridge.  Go southeast to collect some token goodies (which will include a chicken) at the end of the path.  Hit F2 for a neat view of the river following into an (underground) waterway.  (Just kidding...the water does not appear to go anywhere!)  Use ',' and '.' to rotate on what is, in my opinion, the nicest view in the entire game.  After hitting F2, note the enemy troops who become barely visible as the camera moves to pan around Joan.

Time to conquer Saint Pierre le Mountier!  As I said at the start of this section of the walkthrough, you could have conquered Saint Pierre le Mountier at the beginning of this mission.  (I have done it.)  However, you would have lost some cutscenes, as well as some EXP points, so I am assuming that you did not do that!  As with the case at the start of this mission, two independent paths, both of which are mutually exclusive, exist for conquering Saint Pierre le Mountier.  The first is to bribe the Gate Guard; in doing that, you will lose some cutscenes as well as some experience points.  The advantage would be that you get to preserve the gate of the castle, plus have total assurance that the civilians and Captain Henric Bouchier, along with his squad, will not be attacked and/or killed.

The second option is the more difficult and that's the one that we will be doing, unless Matthew Gough was a no-show; in that case, skip below.  First some housekeeping:

1)  Release everyone from following Joan, except her men, of course.  If you have not been paying attention, you can do that by going into RTS mode and simply moving a commander to a nearby spot.  Do that for all of your commanders, including the Bastard.

2)  Have La Hire return to Pouges les Eaux and "trap" all of his men behind the gate.  (Or, before leaving, assign all of his men to one of the enemy generals, provided, of course, that your recruited one or two!)  Be advised that some may "leak out" over time!

3)  Have Jean return to Barrack "de la menace" and trap all of his men on the OUTSIDE of the fort.  (Note that Jean may first have to open the gate and then lead his men across the wooden bridge over the river before quickly returning and then closing the gate.)

4)  Assign all of Jean's men to Henric Bouchier, and then assign all of Bouchier's men to Jean.

5)  Move three columns of the available bread & buns to Jean's troop inventory.

6)  Have Jean climb the ladder to Bouchier, and position Jean directly in front of him.  This should guarantee that Jean's "collision box" will stop any enemy arrows from hitting Captain Bouchier.

7)  Have Joan go west of the castle due north to verify that there are no civilians who have wandered south (very unlikely, if not impossible.)  Using explosive arrows, destroy the two arbalests which we ignored earlier; they will be shooting at you here soon if you do not!  After that, position her just in front of Captain Bouchier's (now former, but soon to be reassigned) archer who is stationed on the far eastern tower (to Bouchier's right.)  Imagine a "line" that extends from this archer to the castle; have Joan stationed on this line as close to the river as she can get.  Verify that she has a column of food for her men.

8)  Have La Hire stand directly in front of the gate with his back AGAINST the granite hill.  Do NOT cross the stone bridge, not yet at least.

9)  Assign the Bastard to follow Alencon, and have the Duke move north.  Verify that he has a bow and/or crossbow with regular and explosive ammo (at least 50 rounds of each), and position him just north of Camp Varzy (the one where the wagon was) but south of des champs du nord.  Verify as he is moving north that NO civilians are in the area.  (If they are, wait for them to return north of Varzy; push them in that direction, if necessary.)  As he goes north, position the Bastard such that the latter is always "in range" of the Duke.

10)  Position the Bastard north of the small wooden hut but south of Varzy.  Put him into a hold status.

11)  Make sure that the Duke's and Orleans' "fog of war" overlap each other.  Verify that each of them have a column of food for their men.

12)  If civilians are in the area and cannot be moved north of Varzy, do not attack Saint Pierre le Mountier; instead, bribe the Gate Guard.

Assuming that the area is clear, send La Hire across the stone bridge directly toward the Gate Guard.  You will have a few seconds to bribe him (for "only" $2,200!!), and if you don't (we won't be), he'll "sound the alarm.  A number of archers (around 36) will spawn and start manning the walls all around Saint Pierre le Mountier.  Here's what we are going to do next:

1)  Leave La Hire where he is (no need whatsoever to start pounding on the gate, so do NOT do that!!), as we are pressed for time.

2)  Switch to Joan and have her sniper any enemy archers who are attacking Barrack "de la menace".  Verify that all enemy fire has ceased before moving on to Step #3.  Only one to three enemy archers will be attacking the camp but they will vary from game to game.  Most will just "stand around".

3)  Switch to the Duke.  Have him go directly south, directly between the castle and Camp Varzy next the western granite hills.  Have him kill the enemy archers who spawned on the north wall of Saint Pierre le Moutier.  Some archers he can kill using regular bolts/arrows; others will require explosive ones.  If using the later, just aim near the top of the castle wall.  The "splash" will be sufficient to damage, and eventually kill, the archer.

4)  Switch to the Duke's short-range mode and verify that the enemy archers are dead by snugging the castle wall.  Be sure to also check in RTS mode, as archers are not easily seen from the ground.

5)  Have the Duke continue south along the wall, killing archers.  Try regular bolts first, then explosive ones.  Continue killing until you reach the small wooden bridge.  Rinse and repeat from Step 4.

6)  Switch to Joan.  Have her go north onto the wide path which is west of the castle and kill the newly spawned mercenary archers.  Keep going north next to the stream; you will be able to kill the archers along the northern wall.  As with the Duke, be sure to check that they are all dead via RTS mode.

7)  Once the western and northern walls have been cleared, have Joan return to "de la menace".  Go and kill the 12 archers atop the south wall of Saint Pierre le Mountier, 5 to the west (left) of the gate, 5 to the east (right), and 2 in the "windows," if they will remain still.  Have her lead her men inside "de la menace" and then close the gate, "trapping them inside."

8)  Assign as many of Jean's men back to him as you and then assign any "leaked" men of La Hire's over to Captain Bouchier.

9)  Have Joan join La Hire at the castle gate.  If you are able to assign all of Jean's men to another commander, have him join Joan & La Hire, also.

10)  Switch to the Duke and have him return to Camp Varzy (just north of the small wooden hut) to sniper the remaining archers on the north wall of Saint Pierre le Mountier; some additional archers may have also moved-over in that direction.  (They normally will not.)  Use explosive bolts as needed.  Go into RTS mode to verify that ALL of the enemy archers are dead.

Have La Hire beat down the gate.  No hurry; you can take your time.  Once the gate falls, enjoy the cutscene (Matthew Gough is back for "Round 2" commanding a 5-man squad of Mercenary infantry, but he won't spawn until the gate has been destroyed), and then send La Hire (and Jean, if he's there) into the fray, switch to Joan and go into z-mode with explosive arrows/bolts at the ready.  Once you've killed-off Gough's pals (which, eventually, will include a 6-man squad of Mercenary polemen just ahead, but who may not joining the fight right away), hit him with regular arrows until he retreats.  You'll get an additional "extra" cutscene as Gough retreats.  After he is gone, hit F2 and have a look at the wooden gate!  "Where the Hell Is Matt?" (Alright, a little humor here -- just Google.)  Let La Hire or the army finish-off the Gate Guard, who will not attack you.

As an aside, if Matthew Gough was a no-show at Camp des champs du nord, that means that he got stuck on a texture, likely, near the monastary in the middle of Saint Pierre le Mountier.  To get him unstuck, the best route is to bribe the Gate Guard, send the army into the castle (see next paragraph) and clean it out (ditto); attract some enemies beyond the wooden gate (more below); move the army back out over to Camp Pouges les Eaux, and then get Matthew's attention.  You can lead him back to Camp Varzy to trigger the cutscene, but beware, he is faster than you and will kill civilians, eventually!

After the cutscene, lead him back to the northern castle area and put him down, termporarily; after that, position yourself away from the wooden door on its north side alongside the eastern wall and then bring the army forward to trigger the cutscene.  Note that you if you do not have La Hire beat down the gate, you can't open it once you have conquered Saint Pierre le Mountier, but fortunately, La Hire can still beat it down.  I would recommend just having Joan do the fighting for this scenario, having her put down Matthew and his Bro.

Assuming that Matt has not gotten stuck, bring the entire army to the south gate of Saint Pierre le Mountier, with the exception of La Hire's "trapped troops."  (Watch for any "flashing red dots" for any Mercenary archers whom you may have missed.)  You can go into RTS mode to open the "de la menace" fort gate, reassign Bouchier's three archers back to him and Jean's remaining men back to him (if you haven't done so already),  but leave La Hire's men in Camp Pouges les Eaux for now and any "stragglers" with Captain Bouchier.  Assign everyone to follow Joan.  Clean-out the south area of Saint Pierre le Mountier in a counterclockwise direction, so go to the right.  You will encounter five squads of Mercenary melee troops, two 6-man squads of polemen, two 6-man squads of infantrymen, and finally, another 6-man squad of polemen.

When you get to the middle area of the castle near the wooden gate, Matthew Gough will re-spawn and you will get another cutscene, which is the same one that you would have gotten (minus the others), if you had bribe the Gate Guard at any time earlier in the game (including, at the very beginning of the mission.)  Do ***NOT*** attack the inner wooden gate!!!  Instead, continue to clear the remaining melee squads to your southwest.

Once you have cleaned-out the castle that is south of the inner wall, take La Hire and Jean up onto the castle wall and clean-out all enemies in a counter-clockwise fashion; avoid picking-up any gold, even though it is inevitable that you will pick up some.  If you would take more than three commanders up onto the wall, the path will become congested and you will have to constantly deal with "stuck men," especially, on the arbalests (which you can still destroy using explosive arrows/bolts), which is going to be the case no matter how many men you take up onto the wall.  Two commanders is plenty.

Keep Jean and La Hire at the vanguard as much as possible, so lead them to the enemy, and once you get their attention, quickly pull back.  (As Jean & La Hire will get stuck often, you'll have to switch commanders frequently in order for them follow you.)  You'll encounter leaderless groups of four Mercenary polemen in each of the towers (8 towers with 32 polemen in all), as well as four or so Mercenary infantry who were manning the arbalests, depending, of course, on how many who killed earlier.  After killing all of the mercenary polemen, infantry and archers, return to the gate.  Go atop the tower above the gate for a nice view but put Jean into a temporary hold status, so he and his troops do not follow you up (La Hire can come if he "wishes.")

Return to the far northern French city ("St Thomas sur le pont"), the only one in the game.  Bring Jean & La Hire along for company (we also need their inventory space, so pass as much as you can over to Alencon and the Bastard!) but leave everyone else in the castle.  Don't worry about Matthew Gough & Friends; he's locked himself and his men in the northern area of Saint Pierre le Mountier and he won't be able to get out until you break down the door.

At this point the entire game map that is accessible will be completely clear of enemies.  When you get to the city, you will meet with the city elders; they will thank you for having saved them (your HUD indicator at the top should read '0/15' just before you talk with them, as you have saved everyone!  If not, no big deal; after all, you lost some civilians during Mission 2!), plus they "want their money back"!  We'll be collecting it soon for them, the minimum amount, of course.  If you have been collecting it ("naughty, naughty"), talk to Philippe Barrillier who is right next to the bridge with the priest (guy in white) to maximum the game's dialogue (which you should get even if you haven't been collecting.)  In the meantime, there are four civilians whom you need to talk to, but first:

DO ****NOT**** TALK TO THE "MIDDLE AGE" MAN TO YOUR RIGHT (EAST) OF THE BRIDGE!!!

We'll be talking to him soon enough, but not now.  Another side objective awaits.  Instead, talk to four other individuals whom may have left the town and are wandering about the countryside:

1)  A young child who is hungry and "wants apples."

2)  A nursing mother who is concerned about her baby.  (It's very disturbing to see these very beautifully dressed mothers being killed; not sure if the English were this brutal or not during The Hundred Years War.)

3)  An elderly man who is concerned not so much for himself but for his community.

4)  A middle age man named "Jacques Galochier" who also implores you to speak with the farmhand "next to the bridge" who is "Dreuz Forcetier".  Be careful when trying to talk to this guy!

As I said, if you can't find these folks in the city, look for them in the surrounding countryside.  I've never seen them wander onto or beyond the small wooden bridge next to Saint Pierre le Mountier or onto the adjoining wooden bridge to the large path west of the castle or into Camps de Bois or de Cercy la tour.  They can wander into Camp Varzy or, perhaps, Camp de Donzy.  It is, however, more probable than not that at least three out of the four townspeople will be within the "city limits" of St Thomas sur le pont.

As I said, do NOT talk to the "farm hand" next to the bridge.  Don't worry, he won't be moving around, so if you see someone moving, it's safe to approach that person.  Do go talk to the blacksmith and pick up some new "high-grade" armor for Jean, which will only be able for him on this mission.  Don't buy anything else at this point; sell off all your extra charms, except, of course, the stuff that you (Joan) are now carrying for your future King Charles, courtesy of Arthur.

When you are done chatting, it's scavenging time!!!  We'll be picking up some extra charms, a love letter & pendant, and lots and lots of gold!  So head due west over to Camp de Decize and clean it out; you'll pick up an extra Sentinel crossbow.  Go south along the wide path west of Saint Pierre le Mountier in RTS mode and pick up any left-over goodies, free any "stuck" men from the arbalests, and clean-out Barrack "de la menace" where you started this mission.  Work your way in a giant, lazy circle back to des champs du nord, which is just south of St Thomas sur le pont; ditto.  Go back into St Thomas sur le pont for a quick chat with Philippe Barrillier who is right next to the bridge with the priest (dressed in white) to maximum dialogue; clean-out the city if you have not already done so, picking up a L2 Seal of Antiquelis, along with all the food stored in crates.

After that, head back to Camp Varzy (just south of you but north of the small wooden hut, which we will not be using at all during this mission; however, if you want, you can build a cannon and/or two fauconneaus and blast a hole in the east and north sides of Saint Pierre le Moutier; if you do this, just be sure to NOT have the cannon and/or fauconneau blast down the castle's middle wooden gate, at least not entirely) and switch to the short-range map and note the gold squares.  Clean-out the camp and collect all the gold but park Jean & La Hire outside.  Switch to z-mode to have a look at the tall hill of Saint Pierre le Moutier; we'll be going up there soon.  Hit F2 to catch a quick glimpse of Matthew without his soon-to-be-spawned brother; Matt will be standing in front of the monastery.

When finished, close the drawbridge and head over to Camp de Donzy with Jean & La Hire in tow.  Rinse and repeat, picking up yet another L1 Seal of Antiquelis and a L1 Quartz Crystal; after that, be sure to close the gate.  Ditto for Camps de Bois, where a worthless L1 Black Star Opal is waiting.  Be sure to exit out the south gate towards the wooden spikes (no fence this time!) to get some meaningless dialogue.  (Are you really "leaving the battlefield"?  Hit F2, if you wish, to get a quick glimpse of enemies who are awaiting you to the far south.)  Close all of the gates, making sure that no civilians are in the camp or south of it.  Clean-out Camp de Cercy la tour next.

Pick up the love letter and Patrice's penchant to her husband Milan on a hill on the south side of the camp (you'll need to cross the wooden bridge to get to the two treasure chests containing Patrice's letter & penchant) but do ****NOT**** read the letter!!!!  (Instead, pass those items to Jean for safe-keeping; note the only L4 non-weapon charm in the game -- Patrice & Milan were in love!!!)  Switch to RTS mode and have a look around to your south and north; pick up Jean's new sword, the L4 Liberator, to the east.  Note that the level designers were a little lazy -- note the "frozen" river that is just barely visible to the south and the strange "lonesome" rock to your north next to the void.  Finally, when done, close both of the two gates and the drawbridge, and then go clean-out Camp Pouges les Eaux, releasing La Hire's men back into "the wild."  Close the gate.  (Do NOT collect more than 100 bars of gold!)

When you're done sight-seeing and collecting, return to Saint Pierre le Moutier and join-up with the Duke & Orleans; pick up the gold bars to the northwest of the SOUTH side of the castle -- at this point you should have around 85 out of 100 gold bars.  (If you're at 100, skip below; return to Saint Thomas and then come back to this section.)  After cleaning-out the south area of the castle (ignore the balcony for now), move everyone well south of the wooden gate, but keep the gate area within range of your archers; put everyone (except, for La Hire) into a hold status.  Assign La Hire's men to Captain Bouchier; La Hire is going solo!

Switch to La Hire, give him the new bow, have him beat-down the wooden gate (note how quickly it falls), and then send him into the northern part of the castle, a TINY LITTLE beyond the now-destroyed gate and no further!  (Avoid the explosive archers up the hill!!)  Have him lead the six leaderless Mercenary polemen who attack him back to the army, recruiting as many of them as possible but at the lowest possible price!  Avoid creep, and make sure that no one enters the northern part of the castle.  Assign your newly recruited Mercenary soldiers to Captain Bouchier; don't worry if the good Captain goes "over his limit."

Once the polemen have been assimilated or killed, enter into the northern area again and immediately turn right and run around the edge of the inner area of the castle hugging the "right wall" (once again, avoid the archers with explosive arrows and the squad of infantrymen next to them.)  You'll soon attract the attention of a nearby leaderless squad of six Mercenary infantrymen.  Fight these chaps solo, and after recruiting (or killing), return to the army to assign your new comrades to Captain Bouchier.

Return to *exactly* where you were along the wall and go due north until you trigger a cutscene; Matthew Gough and his brother Martin (who appear to be identical twins) are ready to fight.  Go up to the fence (don't worry; you can't fall-off the hill) and inch little by little towards the brothers until you get their attention.  Fight them behind (north of) the church/monastery right next to the cliff; both brothers are easy to defeat, but since there are two of them and only "one" of you, use arrows with the occasional energy move; as long as you keep your health above 50%, you'll be fine.  Replenish your health immediately if it should drop below that!

Once Matthew is dead, the Duke will "chime in" with an enthusiastic message; after that, Martin, when he falls, will apologize to his brother, even if the latter is already dead!!  (Kill Matthew first, if you can.)  Matthew will drop a L1 charm (Diamond or Amulet of our Lord or something else) and Martin will drop a L5 Dragon crossbow, the highest level of crossbow that you will get for the entire game, so pick both of those up and store the latter away.  (It will cost 10K in the next mission if you do not pick up the Dragonbow now.)  Return to the army the way that you came, by going south and hugging the east (this time, left) wall.

Assign La Hire 9 men from Captain Bouchier and then assign him back to Joan.  Have her and the army "storm" the northern part of the castle.  Ignore the leaderless group of six infantrymen to your right up the hill as you enter through the now-destroyed wooden gate and have Joan (you) immediately go and recruit ALL the 3-man squad of explosive archers (their captains, too); pay full price, as we don't want to kill them, plus you have a ton of cash.  Let the army finish-off the remaining squad of infantrymen, while you quickly recruit your new and important asset.

Don't be tempted to shoot at any of the enemy archers, as a single arrow/bolt will kill each of them "on the spot."  Don't try for any single sword attack, either, as they will soon start attacking each other, resulting in more deaths.  After recruiting them, recruit the remaining Mercenary infantrymen.  Hopefully, all three Mercenary explosive archer captains will survive.  (If not, no big deal; you really only need one.)  Once done, the castle will be yours!  Enjoy the extended cutscene with Perrient Gressart (which could play before you completely conquer the castle), and his mercenary infantry captain, whom you will be meeting (and killing) here soon.

Scour the northern part of castle for gold, and when you reach 100 (go SLOW!!!), have Joan & Friends take it back to St Thomas sur le pont so that you can get "your cut."  Enjoy the cutscene from the town's "mayor" and priest, and then return to Saint Pierre le Mountier.  (Do ***NOT*** talk to the farmhand to the northeast of the bridge!!!)  When you get back, scour the castle for food and charms and pick up La Hire's new weapon just south of the church, a L4 Behemoth Warhammer, which he will only be using a short time!  Go back up the hill and into z-mode, then RTS, for a "look down" at Camp Varzy.  Some "hanging laundry" is next to a building on the northeast side of the castle, "blowing in the wind"!  Also note the 3 graves whose epitaphs are barely visible (an Easter egg?)

After that, go talk to the blacksmith, and sell all of your excess charms (including, the worthless "Dragon's Claw Ring" that is next to blacksmith as well as a L1 Quartz Charm that is in a treasure chest on the northeast end of the southern part of the castle) and weapons (Jean's old L3 "Le Faucon" sword, La Hire's old L3 "Crusher Battle Mace, and one or both of the two L3 "Sentinel" crossbows that you should have, assuming, that you do not wish to do a "range/kill" compare later on, along with the longbow); buy the L3 Seal of Antiquelis (your only opportunity in the game to do so), but do **NOT** buy the compound bow; we'll be picking that up in Mission 8.

Go to the only shoppe in this entire mission (the level designers thought that they were going to make life a "little hard" for you, didn't they!  Ha!!) and sell-off all your apples, buying ALL the shoppe's food, except, of course, any apples.  After cleaning-out the castle (look for goodies in the corners of the castle, along the wall, and in the barracks), buy La Hire's "high grade" armor, the only opportunity that you will have to do so.  Be sure to circle the entire castle atop the wall to clean that out; lots of cash will be lost if you don't!  Go solo as Joan on this one; we don't need any more stuck men, so assign all of her men to one or more of the three French explosive archer captains or to Captain Bouchier.  You can position Jean atop the upper wall north of the monastery to have a "look up/down" with Joan, if you wish!

Time to feed those hungry villagers; they've been waiting patiently!  A little housekeeping.  Pass the L3 Seal of Antiquelis to Joan and ***manually*** (***NOT*** using RTS for anyone except Orleans and your captains) assign her 12 melee troops; after Joan, pass the charm to Jean and assign him 10 archers; with La Hire, reassign any "leaked men" (see "Script 9" in the game script code for this pun!) whom you have assigned to Bouchier back to him and then "max him out" with 11 melee troops (verify that Bouchier's archers are all assigned to him); with Alencon, assign him a 50/50 mix of melee and archers for a maximum of 17 troops, and with Orleans, assign him all melee troops for a maximum of 18. (Note the Orleans can, under more or less random circumstances, command 20 men.)

Assign Jean to be in command of the three mercenary explosive arrow captains and assign them all of the the remaining Mercenary melee troops.  If you need to recruit extra melee units, use the barracks in the castle, and assign any of the "leftover" archers to the three French captains.  Assign EXACTLY 11 infantrymen to the one of your three French captains -- 3 for the upcoming trebuchet and 8 for the battering ram; give the other two (or one) captains at least several men each.  When done, verify that you have cleaned-out Camp "de la menace" and close the gate (we won't be coming back).  Position everyone on the large path to the west of Saint Pierre le Mountier and then head north back to Camp de Decize and make sure that each of your commanders has at least one column of buns and another of bread in their troop inventory.

When you arrive, you'll notice some farm fields, which we will be returning to shortly.  At the base of Camp de Decize, there is a little "y-intersection" which you can see in RTS mode.  Get everyone out of follow mode and position La Hire at the base of the path leading up to Camp de Decize with the Bastard just behind and to the right of him.  Position Jean up the hill just inside the camp's entrance with the three explosive archer captains in a semi-circle around the camp's sole archer tower; position Joan on the path leading up the adjoining hill but make sure that she is three-quarters up the path and NOT at the top of the hill, with her men BEHIND her.  Put everyone into a hold status and switch to the Duke; he'll be commanding this side mission.

Clear the immediate area of any civilians; none of them can be in or near Camp de Decize or to the west of the small mound that is east of Camp de Decize when the fighting starts.  If any are around, push them well EAST of the mound and make sure that they are either idle or heading east when you leave them.  Once the area is clear, have the Duke head back to St Thomas sur le pont as far into the city as he can get, all the way to the waterfall.  We need to do this, as three of the village men will be leaving the town, and if any of the Duke's men are on the bridge, the civilians will likely get stuck, causing you not to be able to complete the side-objective, ever.  (Unless, of course, you reload the game, so be sure that you have saved it prior to the Duke entering the town.)  Go and talk to Dreuz Forcetier, the farmhand who, as the city elder stated, is to the northeast of the bridge.

Enjoy the cutscene and get a "birds eye" view of the newly spawned food barrels!!  (You should not be able to see any of your troops if you have positioned them correctly.)  You are about to go on a little side-objective, the easiest one of this mission.  Allow the farmhand and his two buddies to clear the bridge completely and then begin following them at a distance.  They are much slower than you, so there is no need to worry about "catching-up" with them.  They will provide you with some worthless dialogue as they approach their farm.  Once there, let them approach the wooden barrels to maximize dialogue (they'll ask and then wait for you to smash them open), and then hit each of the barrels to open them and try to pick up the food (you can't) to maximize some additional dialogue.  (You could also create a special save file to re-fight this battle.)

Once the villagers have picked-up all of their food (each one of them will pick up each of the three food types available -- apples, bread and buns), you'll get a couple more cutscenes.  Hopefully, La Hire is not too far east (he won't be, if you followed my instructions), and around 10 (per Mr. Tung's estimate -- the exact number appears to be 15:  6 infantry and 9 explosive archers in total) mercenaries will have spawned, with the six infantrymen down the hill due east.  More threatening will be the archer who has spawned in the tower to your northeast and two other archers on the short hill to your southeast, where Joan should be at.  They will kill any stray civilians who are nearby, so, hopefully, you've cleared them out of the area.  If not, switch to La Hire and do a head-on assault against the Mercenary melee troops.  Let Jean finish off the two 3-man squads of explosive archers who spawn on his hill.

After the cutscene, quickly hit z-mode (as Alencon) and start heading east; have a quick look towards the tower to your left -- the mercenary archer *may* fall to his death, as your explosive archers take him out, the only such "fatal fall" (to my knowledge) in the entire game!!  After that, just keep yourself between the three village people (ha!) and the mercenary soldiers, as the latter are utterly decimated by your army, La Hire, the Bastard, and Joan, in particular.  Continue going east back to St Thomas sur le pont; those four villagers whom you spoke with earlier will still be willing to talk to you, until you get the cutscene when the three farmhands all arrive back at town.  The upcoming dialogue will vary if one or more of them get killed.

If all three of the villagers survived (they should have!), you'll get your fourth cross, the Emerald Cross.  Bring Joan and the entire army over to the town and stow the cross with Jean.  Make sure that you and your commanders have EXACTLY (or "thereabouts") 500 regular arrows AND 500 regular bolts (and at least 100 explosive arrows AND/OR bolts, which you should have, if you have followed my instructions so far); if not, buy them from the blacksmith; do NOT "overstock" -- we need some extra inventory space.  Position one of the Mercenary archer captains just outside the town at its entrance.  Even though the area is completely clear of enemies, we're going to "remain in character" and leave the town a squad of soldiers behind to "guard" it (an alternate scenario in the game, which the developers decided not to implement.)

Have Joan head into town BY HERSELF (with her men, of course, which means putting everyone else into a hold status) to the far end and face DUE north, such that, when you hit F1, you can see the farthest right (east) of the two buildings to the north in the FOV on your HUD.  Read Patrice's letter to her hubby and watch her spawn out of thin air right in front of a window!  KEEP PATRICE'S STUFF WITH ORLEANS!!!  Go talk to Patrice to get some extra dialogue; after that, pass the letter ***AND*** pendant back to Joan.  Talk to Patrice again; she'll take her stuff back.  You're a jerk if you do not give Patrice her pendant back (no, just kidding), but it's "in character," right?  If you do return the letter and not the pendant (or, if you talk to her with just the pendant, which she'll take), you'll get slightly different dialogue from Patrice; either way, you'll fulfill the side objective with just the letter, but give the poor woman both!

We don't need Patrice's pendent (she'll "disappear" after the cutscene, likely, by "going inside" one of the buildings), so after giving her items back, assign everyone to follow Joan, except for the Mercenary archer captains.  Assign two of the three (or, one of the two) to the Bastard (we want to keep them "in the rear") and leave the one with the fewest men stationed, permanently, at the bridge leading into St Thomas sur le pont.  Have Joan head south to Camps de Bois, the one where the new recurve bow was and where the wooden spikes were, which are now gone.  Enter the camp and close its northern gate; exit out the south side and close that gate as well.  (You'll experience bottlenecks at both gates, which is why it would not make much sense to recruit 30 or so mercenary captains with a 100 to 300+ man army!  It would take an hour just to get through the two gates!!)

Switch to z-mode with the Dragonbow crossbow (and, switch crossbows to see that the Dragonbow is, in fact, more powerful!) and work your way south, noting the massive firepower of your explosive archers; the massive castle La Charite-sur-Loire just to your south is full of enemy ones.  You'll first encounter a 6-man group of Mercenary polemen and a 3-man group of Mercenary archers to their right with an identical group to their left, all leaderless.  A lone Mercenary archer is to the right of the path with another to the left with a lone Mercenary polemen, followed by two English crossbowmen, all leaderless.  Some more leaderless Mercenaries follow:  3-man group of archers, a 2-man group of polemen, and a 2-man group of archers.  After these fellas are several Burgundian archers and two Mercenary polemen, all leaderless.

Some wooden crates are along the eastern granite wall north of the wooden hut, which are guarded by ten leaderless Mercenary infantrymen.  Continue south until you get to the stone structure; enter it from its west side (to your right.)  Note the purplish enemy "diamond icon" in the distance; it's General Dunziais Begley, an old guy whom you will soon encounter.  Have your men kill everyone inside; they won't even bother to fight, while you finish-off the 4 leaderless Burgundian archers to the east, who will have been shooting at them if the Alliance has fallen (which should be the case).

Why the four leaderless Mercenary infantrymen in the siege house will not fight is a mystery and/or coding error -- maybe they're in shock!  So, let your men kill them off.  Keep your troop inventories well-stocked but NOT overstocked!  After that, position everyone to the NORTHWEST of the siege house next to the granite formation; make sure that the two explosive archer captains are to the rear.  Pause briefly to create a special file (call it "Battering Ram" or something similar); we'll be loading it after the game is over.  (Note that if you approach the siege house from the EAST, the mercenaries may fight.)

Have the Duke return to the wooden hut in the middle of the path, and have him build a trebuchet, assigning three infantrymen from the two explosive archer captains to man it.  Leave it in an "idle status," which means not targeting anything, not yet at least.  Have have Joan return north by herself (and her men) to the barrier of rocks for a last look at the beautiful waterfalls in z-mode!!  If it's nighttime, she won't be able to see either of the waterfalls, but they will be visible in RTS mode.  When finished, return to the army.

Switch to the Duke and assign all of his men to the two explosive archer captains.  Give Alencon the Dragon crossbow, the L3 Amulet of our Lord, the L1 Holy Protection Ring, the L2 Diamond, and the L2 Quartz Crystal (which he should already have); and run towards the right hill leading up to La Charite-sur-Loire's western drawbridge.  It will not open but you will get some cutscenes; after enjoying those, head back down to the army.  Have the trebuchet fire a SINGLE round (at most two) at the castle to "enable" the castle's drawbridges.  (Potentially, you can make one of two holes in La Charite-sur-Loire's giant stone wall, one to the east or one to the west, but not both.  We'll be doing the one to the WEST later on, using the battering ram!)  After the first round, double-click on the trebuchet to put it into an idle status.  The Duke is going solo!

Put everyone, except for the Duke, into a hold status and send him once again up the right ramp.  The drawbridge on that side will now open, and if you retreat, it will close, spawning Mercenary units, who are the only ones in the entire castle, so I am going to stop referring to them as such from now on.  Have as much fun as you can fighting them, as you will not encounter them at all during Mission 8, which is the final mission.

As with "the hill" on Mission 6, it's possible to rack-up some EXP points by running up and down the ramp, spawning and then killing the troops which appear.  Note that this little "glitch," unlike the Mission 6 one, will only occur for awhile and not indefinitely.  I would, however NOT recommend doing this, as you have a limited supply of arrows and bolts, and it's too time-consuming to run back and buy more, and more importantly, the drawbridge will NOT reopen after closing ONE or MORE times.  Instead, immediately enter La Charite-sur-Loire through the castle's western drawbridge as SOON as it OPENS with explosive bolts at the ready.

The game designers probably did not intend this scenario; rather, they thought that you would either blast down the wall with the trebuchet or with one or more battering rams.  You, of course, have already created a "special save" file, and after Mission 8, replay this section to see one of battering rams get destroyed.  On any higher difficulty, they will be destroyed (within a few seconds on the Very Hard level), which will result in some cool animation but also in a loss of valuable men.  Not to worry; we'll be using one of the "free" battering rams here soon.  If you fail to enter the castle, then you'll have no choice but to blast a hole in its giant wall, but if you do this, blast the hold on the castle's WESTERN side!  You'll get a cutscene from General Gressart as soon as you enter the castle.

If you are forced to blast a hole in La Charite-sur-Loire, be sure to fight Perrient Gressart on the INSIDE of the castle towards the FAR, FAR EASTERN end.  (See below for more information.)  Clean-out the four or so 10-man squads of polemen, the four or so 10-man squads of infantrymen, a 10-man squad of archers just to the right of the now "western hole", and several 3-man squads of archers, keeping everyone as far EAST as you can.  If you don't do this, Perrient Gressart, could attack the main army, wiping it out completely.  If you get close to the central towner, General Vincent Hudleg may come down to fight you, also (along, perhaps, with General Dunziais Begley).  If he does, fight him in the exact same spot where you fought (or, are fighting) Gressart.

Keep moving as scores of explosive archers will be shooting at you from above, as will two arbalests and two bombards.  After Gressart retreats and Vincent falls (if you fight him), go up the stairs in the central tower and work your way over to the WESTERN drawbridge, avoiding as many enemies as you can.  Run by General Hudleg (if he is still alive), who *may* come down to fight you (and, eventually, he will; if he does, fight him where you fought Gressart) and continue the walkthrough as below but don't go down into the western drawbridge.  Do NOT climb-up to the central tower where the arbalests and bombards are, and especially, do NOT free any of your imprisoned men!  Use explosive bolts/arrows liberally, especially, if you should encounter General Vincent Hudleg!  Keep your health maxed-out!!

If you have not been forced to blast a hole in La Charite-sur-Loire, enter the western drawbridge area.  Once you're inside, clean-out the immediate area of a 4-man squad of Burgundian archers and eighteen or so infantry, polemen, and archers with explosive arrows/bolts and then CLOSE the drawbridge.  Switch to regular bolts and prepare to fight the MEANEST, TOUGHEST, and WORST boss of the game!!!!  He's already introduced himself, General Vincent Hudleg (is that a real name??).  To fight him, however, we need to clean-out an area, so once the area around the drawbridge is clear of enemies (they'll rush-in from the castle to fight you) and the drawbridge has been closed, take the stairs to your LEFT (the most eastern ones) and go up to the upper wall.  Do ***NOT*** head west; that's where General Hudleg is; instead, head east across the tall and wide wall path.

Fire several explosive bolts to soften-up the 10-man squad of explosive archers and switch to regular bolts to take-out the six or 6-man squads of infantry and polemen who will be attacking you from the east and west.  Once done, eliminate the several remaining 3-man squads of explosive archers to the east, and fire some explosive arrows (use the recurve bow) to eliminate the two bombards and two arbalests to your south (who are atop the north tower) and several 3-man squad of explosive archers and three leaderless regular ones.  These are located on an adjoining platform on the northern central tower with General Begley.  Do NOT venture to the area of the EASTERN drawbridge; just make sure that the upper wall between both drawbridges is completely clear of enemies.  You will get a cutscene from General Gressart as you move into the castle.  Try to kill any archers who are attacking the newly spawned English!

If Alencon is at Level 24, retreat down the FIRST path to the drawbridge, return to the army, and then switch to Jean or La Hire, whoever is lower in EXP, assigning their men to Alencon's command; return to where the Duke was before.  (If possible, close the drawbridge upon entering the castle to protect the army, just in case!)  When ready, head back to the WEST and fire a round or two of regular bolts to get General Vincent Hudleg's attention.  Fight him and his men (who will die quickly with the right combination of explosive bolts), two 6-man squads of infantry, along the wide east-west path that you just cleared.

The number #1 rule is simple:  Do NOT let him get close to you!!!  One hit can drain your health by over two-thirds, so keep your health bar at 100% and "stir clear" of him.  Keep on the north side of the wall, so as to avoid fire from the explosive archers who are below you.  When Hudleg is down on the ground, reverse direction and lead him back and forth until he is dead.  Watch his body slowly "dissolve" on the stone walkway in front of you.  As I said, just keep your distance!  And, NO ground and/or energy attacks!!

Once Vincent is gone, be sure that the area between the western drawbridge and the nearest stairs to its northwest are clear of enemies (especially, explosive archers!); if not, eliminate them.  If Alencon has reached Level 24, retreat and switch with Jean or La Hire, who needs EXP the most.  If you do switch, take time to finish-off the newly spawned English units to the northwest of the castle -- a 6-man squad of knights, a 6-man squad of macemen, and six or so leaderless polemen.  Of course, be sure to bring all of the commanders (except for your mercenary captains) over for the fun!  Also, be sure to sniper some of the explosive archers who will be shooting at you from the castle grounds!

When ready, go west on the walkway past the west drawbridge which you used to enter the castle and take your first left down the stairs; just make sure that no enemies are following you.  Attract the attention of General Dunziais Begley.  Unlike Hudleg, Begley is an old guy, who will fall easily.  You can get close to him, but just remember that when he is surrounded by "an aurora," he'll be invulnerable.  Use your energy attacks to decimate the  two 8-man squads of infantry and then the 10 or so infantry, the six or so polemen, and the six or so regular and six or so explosive archers, all leaderless.  It won't take long to finish-off Begley.  Don't venture too far towards the northern central tower and let Begley follow you away from the tower, lest Perrient Gressart decides to join the fray, and you end-up fighting two bosses at the same time!

Once General Begley is gone, take on Perrient Gressart, who should appear, sooner or later.  (Don't venture into the northern tower or up the stairs to your right!!)  Like you, he's a poleman, but unlike Begley, he'll heal over and over, around 5 times.  Hence, he will have much more health than did General Hudleg, which means that it will take longer to damage him until he retreats.  (You'll kill him later.)  On the good side, a single blow from him will only draw around one-half of your health, but to be safe, keep your distance.  Lead him back to the spot where you felled Hudleg; as before, stay near the northern part of the wall as to avoid fire from the explosive archers below, whom you can sniper, if you wish, while waiting for Gressart.  (Note that Gressart may get stuck in a texture on the ground below, and so, after waiting for 5 minutes, go look for him, but carefully!)

After two of La Charite-sur-Loire's generals are dead and the third has retreated to the rear of the castle, return to the drawbridge.  Open it and return to the army, leaving it open.  Assign the two explosive archer captains to a spot near where they are, just to get them out of "follow mode."  Assign all their archers to follow the Duke; after that, assign melee troops.  Assign everyone to follow Joan and then head due east; some remaining English & Burgundian troops (sometimes, a lone English polemen and macemen) may be in the area, most of them having been killed by their now-former mercenary allies.  (See above for troop totals.)  After finishing-them off, head northeast toward the small wooden hut to collect some goodies if you have not already picked that stuff up.

Assign eight infantrymen to the battering ram which is south of the siege house and have it attack the NORTHWESTERN side of La Charite-sur-Loire's great northern wall.  (If you've already blasted a hole in this section of the wall, have them attack the NORTHEASTERN side.)  Position the army with Joan at the vanguard to the immediate right of the battering ram, and once the wall has fallen, storm the castle in z-mode.  (For five or so minutes, stand directly behind the battering ram in z-mode to see how it operates!)  Quickly kill the 10-man squad of explosive archers who are "dead ahead" of you (if you haven't snipered them already), some more to your right, and finally, two who are to your southeast, in the center of the castle yard.  Note that the battering ram, depending on where you position it, may kill-off these fellas for you!

While your men kill-off the oncoming melee troops (four or so 10-man squads of polemen and four or so 10-man squads of infantrymen), go straight ahead into the giant tent with the treasure chest to get yet another new weapon for La Hire, the L5 Juggernaut, which will be his last weapon for the game.  Scour the area, as more melee troops appear from the northern central tower.  Once the area is clear, do a little housekeeping by making sure that your troop inventories are well-stocked, particularly, those of the Duke & Orleans; we want to make sure that our explosive archers remain alive & well.

When the area is clear of enemies, quickly scour it (you'll be under fire) for gold and goodies, and then move the army out and back into the castle via the western drawbridge.  Make it a "staggered" move, otherwise, your men will get hopelessly stuck.  As Joan approaches the earthen ramp, put everyone but her into a hold status.  After she enters the castle, have her go to the right (west) until her men have all entered the castle; then release Jean until he and his squad have joined; ditto for the others, one at a time.  Do NOT go onto the adjoining path where you fought General Begley earlier; instead, continue south towards the explosive archers and an arbalest who will be firing at you.  Quickly take these fellows out in z-mode with the Dragonbow, and venture alone down the adjoining stairs to clear-out the remaining enemies, but don't venture beyond the stairs.

Two important pieces of advice at this point:

1)  Keep an almost-constant eye on your HUD -- you and your commanders are going to take heavy fire.

2)  Recruit enemy explosive archers to replace your lost men.  Do not recruit any of the French prisoners (who are all infantrymen); we want them all to live.  (Of course, this is not a "hard & fast" rule; if you are low on men, then recruit!  After all, as soon as you untie them, they appear with a sword in their hands!)

Go back up the stairs and continue south into the castle towards the second tower along the outer path, the one to the south, eliminating the 10 or so leaderless explosive archers who are scattered along the path.  You'll soon be coming to a treasure chest off to your right which is guarded by three leaderless polemen, which contains a new sword for Joan, the L8 Knights Templar sword.  Midway up the stairs will be two leaderless explosive archers with two more at the top of the stairs.  You will be able to easily and quickly sniper all four of them to death with the recurve bow.  After them will be an infantryman manning an arbalest and a sole explosive archer who is guarding him.  Do not venture down the stairs; instead, follow the dirt path.  Two 5-man squads of polemen await followed by three leaderless ones; two lone polemen are the guards to the south tower!

Once you reach the south tower, a 5-man squad of infantry will attack, along with a 2-man squad of explosive archers and two leaderless ones.  Quickly head towards the stairs which lead to the north tower in z-mode, taking out these explosive archers who are just outside, but do NOT venture more than a short distance onto the steps.  On an adjoining path leading northwest, are a 2-man squad of explosive archers and two leaderless regular archers.  Take them out but do not venture to the platform which is below.

Instead, quickly retreat back to the south tower.  Climb the stairs to the top of the south tower and finish-off the 5-man squad of polemen, the two infantrymen who are manning a bombard, and the two arbalests, the former will have been firing at you "through the floor."  Collect the goodies and return to the second level of the tower, the one leading south to the "dirt racetrack" that is self-evident on your long-range map.  Verify that none of your men on the ground floor are under fire from any enemy archers; if so, switch to them and do the necessary snipering.  Bring as many generals as you can to the second floor of the south tower and position them facing west on the dirt "racetrack."

That is where Perrient Gressart is hiding-out.  He's on the south-southeast side of the "racetrack," just west of the small puddle.  Regroup everyone to the west of the south tower (as many as you can get up the stairs; leave any "stuck" commanders in a hold status) and then assign all of La Hire's men to another commander.  If you have suffered light losses (unlikely, but possible), have La Hire return to the western drawbridge via the outer western wall to assign his men to one of the two explosive archer captains.  Have La Hire (or Jean, if the latter has fewer EPs than La Hire) venture west on the racetrack by himself, leading the five leaderless and 6-man squad of polemen back to the army for decimation.  At this point put everyone, except La Hire (or Jean) into a hold status.

Have La Hire (or Jean) continue around the "racetrack" in a counter-clockwise direction, leading the strange 1-man squad (captain only) and four leaderless polemen back to the army.  (Likely, there was a coding error here!)  Five leaderless polemen follow, all in a row, and then two more polemen, both leaderless, are guarding the treasure chest.  After snipering these fellas, queue your explosive arrows, as General Gressart will be commanding a large squad of 10 or so infantry and 10 or so polemen.

Once you see Perrient Gressart, do ***NOT*** have him lead Gressart back to the army (which he would decimate); instead, switch to explosive arrows/bolts to take-out Gressart's 10 polemen and 10 infantrymen; after that, use regular bolts/arrows to finish him off, staying around the area of the treasure chest which contains a Malachite (which you'll give to Charles on the next mission) on the "smooth" marble surface (avoid the ragged marble, and especially, dirt path to your northeast; do NOT venture northeast to the small lake), which you should pick up as soon as possible.  (We don't want you getting "stuck" on the treasure chest!)

As before, hit him with arrows until he drops and then run past him, reversing direction; just keep your distance and your health full.  Rinse and repeat.  If your health is full and he is near his end, try to see if you can use a energy move to take him down; if not, use your bolts/arrows.  Either way, he'll drop a L3 Volgue Vindicator for the Duke, which, of course, he already has.  Enjoy his dying cutscene and final unrepentant message.

Return to the south tower, this time in a clockwise direction, and scour it for goodies.  You'll pick up a worthless L2 Slayer for the Duke and another L2 Diamond.  Switch to Joan, keep everyone in a hold status, and free all of the French prisoners (make sure that she has 12 men assigned to her, so you do not accidentally recruit anyone) and the have Joan and her men, by themselves, head down to the ground floor to the path which leads back to the north tower.  (If you bring along any other commanders, they may get stuck along the path and will get decimated by any of the troops still living atop the north tower.)

However, do NOT take that path!!  Instead, go north just beyond the south tower's "north entrance" and take the "first left" where you were cleared-out four enemy explosive arrow archers but continue down to another group who are stationed on a mid-platform along with an arbalest.  Kill and recruit as necessary; you should encounter two explosive archers down the path with another two guarding some gold along with an infantryman manning the arbalest, all leaderless.

Take the northeast path leading back to the north tower where you'll encounter two more explosive archers, one leaderless and the other a squad member.  Take a left along the path where you fought General Begley earlier.  Do not return to the most western path, instead, climb the stairs at the mid-tower and go south through the caves; four leaderless polemen will be guarding a crate holding a chicken.  Be sure to get the other chicken at the end of the dead end.  Backtrack and climb the stairs to your left where killed an infantryman manning an arbalest, returning to the most western path that you were on earlier, and then go back to the south tower.

Once at the south tower, release all of your commanders, and then take the north-south path back to the north tower, killing off a 5-man squad of infantry and sniper any of the explosive archers who attack you on the adjoining path leading east.  Kill-off any remaining arbalests and/or bombards atop the north tower.  Depending on how many you killed earlier, there could be two 3-man squads of explosive archers along with several leaderless ones.  Hopefully, you followed my advice earlier and cleared the north tower completely.

Once the platform atop the north tower has been secured, head down to the main level and sniper the two 3-man squads of explosive archers to your east and the three leaderless regular archers.  Leave the French infantryman prisoners in their "prisoner" status for now.  Instead, wait for at least a few of your commanders to catch-up with you and then head east in z-mode, clearing the path ahead of you, which is packed-full of explosive archers.  They are still willing to be bribed, so do that if you are low on men!  Just try to have some food in your troop inventory for them.

The outer eastern wall of La Charite-sur-Loire is going to be a very "tough room."  As you approach the stairs, five 5-man squads of infantrymen will rush down the stairs to attack you along with at least thirty or so explosive archers, consisting of six or so 2-man squads, the rest leaderless, roughly split between north and south of the stairs.  When you come to the eastern path, turn north for just a bit well short of the northeastern drawbridge to clear-out the area, which will consist of two additional 5-man squads of infantry intermixed with the explosive archers.

Even if you are being fired at from the drawbridge, reverse direction, retreating south to continue fighting.  Go past the stairs which you just climbed, and continue to the next stairs to your right.  After clearing out the eight or so explosive archers to the north of these stairs (which will consist of two 2-man squads, the rest being leaderless), take these stairs to the right (west) to clear-out the area toward the arbalest; you'll encounter four or so leaderless infantrymen and another eight or so explosive archers; as before, two 2-man squads with the remaining four being leaderless.

Once the area around the arbalest is yours, continue south on the dirt path towards the four lone infantrymen.  After finishing them off, turn left (southeast) to eliminate two 5-man squads of polemen, and after reaching the outer eastern path, turn right (southwest) to go just east where you fought Perrient Gressart.  Six leaderless polemen await you in a line, along with a 5-man squad just behind them and another on the adjoining path leading northwest to the south tower, who will attack you after receiving fire from your explosive archers.  pick up another Malachite charm guarded in the small cove to the south and finish off 3 leaderless polemen who are due west, unless you eliminated them earlier when you felled Gressart.

Before continuing on the path to the northwest, be sure to have a quick look at the small lake in RTS mode, which will show you the limitations of the RTS system.  At this point the castle is almost yours, and you need to start worrying a bit about having the level end prematurely.  To this end, we are going to be avoiding the NORTHEASTERN drawbridge for now.  Instead, return to the north tower via the path leading from the small lake to the south tower and free the remaining French prisoners, but as before, be sure that you (Joan) are commanding 12 men.  Check your objectives to make sure that you've accomplished everything that you needed to accomplish, which will include this side objective.

Put everyone into a hold status and scour the western and southern parts of La Charite-sur-Loire for goodies, as the castle should be completely clear of enemies, except for the northeastern section.  Be sure to explore the "cave" areas (the castle was built into the side of a mountain), which you have not yet been to.  Put everyone into a hold status for a necessary breather, and explore as Joan.  Be sure to explore the ground level once again (where you picked-up La Hire's L5 Juggernaut) as well as the area toward the north of the castle, as the English will have dropped some goodies after being killed by Mercenaries.  If you've done things correctly, you should be able to take all of the excessive charms, weapons, and food into the next mission, as you should have consumed nearly all of your bread & buns!  Finally, activate the trebuchet to blast a hole in the eastern side of the castle, just for kicks.

When done, head back to the north tower and head back east, across the same path as before with the army in tow; we need to pick up any dropped goodies.  Reverse direction at the stairs (check the area via RTS) and then head west back to the north tower and then to the outer western path you were on before and return to the western drawbridge.  Head east across the main path to finish off the northeastern part of the castle; you'll encounter six leaderless polemen and a 5-man squad of Burgundian archers.  Before continuing southeast to finish off any remaining enemy units, be sure to open the northeastern drawbridge, which, for some reason, may refuse to open.  One to five explosive archers are to your southeast, and end the mission on the northeastern curving path of La Charite-sur-Loire and taste the ten seconds or so of victory before the next mission!

Mission 8 -- The Road to Coronation.

Where are you?!!  Not Orleans, of course.  Probably Chinon, which, ironically, is SOUTH of Orleans.  Does it matter?  No, not really; it's just a game, right?  So hit F2 and have a look around; you can at least see the castle that is just south of you, even though you cannot access any of it.  It's fortified, unlike the others.  Note the double gates on the most eastern side of the castle (but not the mid-section.)  First, some housekeeping:

1)  If the RTS system is working, assign a good mix of melee and range troops to Charles; he can command 20 men (due to his very high leadership, of course!), which is the maximum.  Assign a "good mix" of 18 men to the Bastard and the remainder to Alencon (but recruit manually, so hit F2 to exit out of RTS mode.)  Joan, Jean, and La Hire will not have any troops assigned to them for the remainder of the mission/game.  If the RTS mode is messed-up, switch to the Duke and have him recruit as many men as he can manually.  In either case, make sure that Alencon's troop inventory is well-stocked and that he is commanding 17 soldiers at all times if RTS is messed-up; you won't need any more than Alencon's men and Orleans going solo to keep Charles safe, so if the RTS is not working, no big deal.  If RTS is working, haven Alencon recruit more troops at the first castle, Auxerres.

2)  Assign Jean, La Hire, and Orleans to follow Joan; have Charles follow Orleans and the Duke follow Charles, your future King!  (Note the "new dialogue," which you can repeat with the other commanders at the end of the game.)  Note that Charles is, at present, on a horse.  If he falls off, he will not be able to remount; that's perfectly okay and will happen, eventually.  When it does happen, just have the Duke ride the horse but have him dismount it when the army is not moving.

3)  Rearrange your charms as follows:

Joan -- Level 2 Quartz Crystal, Level 1 Warrior of Infinity, Level 2 Hematite Bloodstone, Level 1 Amulet of Yahweh
Jean -- Level 2 Quartz Crystal, Level 3 Citrine Spiral Pendant, Level 1 Hematite Bloodstone, Level 2 Amulet of Yahweh
La Hire -- Level 2 Quartz Crystal, Ring of Yahve, Level 3 Hematite Bloodstone, Level 2 Amulet of Yahweh
Alencon -- Level 2 Quartz Crystal, Level 2 Warrior of Infinity, Level 2 Diamond, Level 1 Amulet of Yahweh
Orleans -- Level 2 Quartz Crystal, Level 2 Warrior of Infinity, Level 1 Hematite Bloodstone, Level 2 Amulet of Yahweh
Charles -- Level 3 Malachite, Level 2 Diamond, Level 1 Holy Protection Ring, Level 3 Amulet of Yahweh

4)  Give Charles a "row of chicken," followed by another row of ham, fish, and lots of food.  Make sure that his inventory is well-stocked.

5)  Go sell-off all of your excess apples, buying all of the chicken, ham, bread, and buns.  (You'll probably have enough fish; if not, buy those also.)  Go to the blacksmith and sell-off all of your excess weapons such as Joan's old L6 Lord of Kings sword, the extra L3 Volgue Vindicator and L2 Slayer; don't buy the medium-grade armor for the Duke, as he already has it.  Do buy some regular arrows and/or bolts; make sure that you have at least 300 of each.  Don't worry, however, this level has three blacksmiths and shoppes in it, so we can always stock-up later on as necessary.

6)  Have a last look around; we won't be coming back.  Note that it is possible to leave the Duke, Orleans, and Charles where you started and clear the entire level using only Joan, Jean and/or La Hire (or, even, by yourself), as the game has completely denigrated into a FPS at this point.  We won't be doing that, as it is not fun to do!  Some worthless, empty crates are to the west.  You can smash them if you wish.  To the east next to a home is a crate with a chicken; be sure to pick up that.

7)  If Joan is still at Level 24, have her clear the entire map by herself.  Just make sure that she has the recurve bow and Dragonbow, along with all of the arrows & bolts that she can carry, regular and explosive.  When she reaches Level 28, have her return to get the army and continue the mission from there.

8)  Keep on eye on Charles' health!!!  Even though he is at Level 24, he is still, as compared to your other commanders, VERY, VERY weak, with only 198 HPs, so watch him closely!!!!  If he takes ANY damage whatsoever, feed him IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!!  Do *NOT* take any chances that he will not auto-heal himself.  (You could always create a special save file if you want to hear his dialogue as he is getting seriously injured, which you could play after the game is over.  I have a spot picked-out for you to do this.)

9)  In theory, you could fight all six bosses on this level at the same time.  I have never tried it, but it seems possible.  To do so, send Joan out by herself to Auxerres without doing any fighting (just "run around" the English troops).  Have her pass Auxerres, then destroy the south gate at Troyes, go north to Camp du marais aux fougeres, opening the gate, destroy the gate at Chalons, go north until she reaches Reims and then led Sir William da la Pole and Lord Jean de Luxembourg back to Chalons, and then those three over to Lord Scales at Sezanne-sur-Champagne, and then lead all four of them back to Lord Fastolf at Troyes and then lead those five back to Sir William Glasdale at Auxerres.

10)  Note that Charles won't die until he has run out of food entirely; he MAY give you a message, asking you for food when this happens, but do NOT let this occur!  As such, if and when The Bastard reaches Level 25, have Charles follow Joan directly (but, keep Alencon following Charles), so that Charles can, perhaps, reach Level 25.

When everyone is ready, head across the bridge.  You'll get a cutscene; as before, the medievals did not like forests, especially, foggy ones!  A large 10-man squad of mixed English troops are to your right consisting of 4 infantrymen and 6 macemen lead by an infantryman captain, so head east and go finish them off.  Note a path leading through the woods to the northeast, an alternate path, which you could take to avoid enemies, however, Charles and all of your men will become hopelessly stuck.  As we want to kill everyone, head back west and meet another 13-man English squad of 6 archers and 7 infantrymen, who are commanded by an infantryman.  Be sure to pick up a letter.  It's from Jean de Luxembourg; we'll be meeting up with him at the end of the game.  Now would be a perfect time, if you wish, to compare crossbows or the standard bows.

Continue west; you'll encounter a 12-man English squad commanded by a maceman consisting of 4 macemen, 4 infantrymen, and 4 archers.  After defeating them, curve north; another 12-man English squad awaits of 8 infantrymen and 4 crossbowmen commanded by an infantryman.  At the far north, there is a new weapon for the Duke, a L4 Despoiler along with a few goodies.  After picking it up, head back south to the east-west path and go east.  After finishing-off the 8-man English squad of infantrymen, put everyone into a hold status and then "loop around" to pick up any goodies.  Go into RTS mode for a last look at the battlefield to your south.  Return and head east with the army; you'll encounter a 12-man English squad consisting of 4 crossbowmen and 8 infantrymen, commanded by an infantryman.

Continue east; a treasure chest and crate are are in a small cove as the path splits into two, one east, the other southeast.  Take the path to the southeast; two identical 12-man English squads who are facing each other await you.  Both are commanded by an English infantryman and consist of 7 archers and 5 infantrymen, a total of 24 men who will attack you almost simultaneously, although, you can draw the first squad's attention with a distant arrow.  (It's more fun to fight both at once!)

Clear-out the area and pick up the L2 Seal of Antiquelis in the treasure chest.  Keep the army together and explore the immediate area, as you may be ambushed from your vanguard by yet another 12-man English squad consisting of 4 macemen, 3 infantrymen, and 5 archers who are commanded by a maceman.  To their northwest is another English squad, this one a 13-man squad of 5 heavy infantry and 8 crossbowmen who are commanded by a English heavy infantryman.  If there is a lot of fog in the forest, they may attack you "without warning," a cool feature for this part of the map.

Once the area is clear of enemies and goodies, go into RTS mode to search for any dropped goodies.  Note the small path to your southwest through the forest which will allow you to return to the bridge and castle, if necessary.  (Just for fun, go back to sell-off the Duke's old L3 Volgue Vindicator weapon and any apples.)  Return to the army and go due east to explore the network of small inlets; you'll encounter those two English squads, one 12-man and the other 13-man, as you work your way north, if they have not attacked you already.  When Joan, who is at the vanguard (as always), encounters the enemy, have her retreat until one of your other commanders (usually, Jean) engages the enemy and then have her join the fray.  Rinse and repeat.

As you head due north on the path to the far east (your only route), you'll encounter a 13-man Burgundian squad of 9 heavy infantry with 4 archers to their rear, who are commanded by a heavy infantryman.  After finishing these fellas off, go west to encounter another 13-man Burgundian squad, this time 9 regular infantry with 4 archers to their rear, who are commanded by a regular infantryman.  Finally, another 13-man Burgundian squad, this squad a mixed one consisting of 5 heavy infantrymen, 4 regular infantrymen, and 4 archers to the rear, who are commanded by a heavy infantryman.

After defeating this last Burgundian squad, the path will curve to the north towards the next castle, Auxerres; more enemies, more fighting, and more killing.  First, yet another 13-man Burgundian squad of 9 heavy infantrymen with the usual 4 archers at the rear, who are commanded by a heavy infantryman.  Due east is a 13-man mixed English squad of 5 knights (or, technically, "heavy infantry"), four archers, and to their rear, four crossbowmen, who are commanded by a knight.  Check-out the wooden hut (which we won't be using, so don't build anything) and be sure to pick-up the goodies next to the hut and those which outside of the castle north and south of the bridge to the east and west of it.

Park Orleans, Charles, and the Duke next to the hut and head north towards Auxerres with Joan at the vanguard (as always) followed by Jean and La Hire.  Enjoy the two cutscenes.  Make sure that Jean & La Hire are out of "follow mode" and then move you (Joan), Jean and La Hire to the south gate of Auxerres individually.  If, for some reason, the RTS system is messed-up, enter the castle and close the south gate locking Jean and La Hire's men outside.  If not, send Jean & La Hire individually to the two platforms atop the southern tower and position each of them, respectively, right next to the two 7-man Burgundian squad of archers; they'll soon be some fighting.  It is probably better to position La Hire on the eastern balcony, as he will decimate the archers on that east with his energy moves; Jean may take longer and may need you to give him some food.

Is this a French castle?  Sorry for the spoiler (this is a walkthrough, after all!), but it's not, in spite of what your future King thinks.  Note the English flags on the barracks, but to see them, you'll need to go inside.  More importantly, there are three civilians in the castle who will talk to you, but here's some rules to remember:

1)  The civilians will talk to you ONE time PRIOR to the English setting-off their trap; however, if none of them are near the southern side of Auxerres, don't bother waiting for them to wander over next to you; such could take several hours.  It is very unlikely that you'll be able to talk to all three civilians, if any at all, prior to fighting.

2)  Two of the civilians (a woman, Olivia Espingvier, and especially, a middle-age man, Richard Bufetier) will talk to you a SECOND and FINAL time if you talk to any of them DURING the fighting prior to capturing the castle, so don't do that, except for Bernard Maigen, who will look like the first civilian.

3)  If you do not talk to him during the fighting, Bernard Maigen will (or, rather, "may" -- I seem to be getting different outcomes here!) talk to you a SECOND and FINAL time after you capture the castle, assuming, of course, that you talked to him or the other two at all prior to the fighting breaking out.  Otherwise, Bernard will talk to you a THIRD and FINAL time!

4)  A third woman, Olivia Espingvier (a woman who is not holding an infant) and a middle-age man, Richard Bufetier, will talk to you a SECOND and a THIRD time, IF you talk to them PRIOR to freeing the elder citizens who are trapped in the tower, and then talk to them again AFTER you have freed the elders.  More on that later.

Auxerres is pretty easy to conquer, even easier than conquering the Tourelles.  (If you should become desperate and run out of arrows and/or bolts, the castle blacksmith, unlike all of his other castle-bound predecessors, will be willing to sell you more supplies, even before you conquer the castle!)  Sir William Glasdale, whom you will soon meet for a fourth and final time, is waiting for you at the northern end of the castle.  He's easiest to defeat if you fight him on the balcony, so climb the stairs to the balcony and head over to the western side of Auxerres.

As soon as you approach the first walkway which crosses the mid-line of the castle, you'll get a cutscene.  Charles, the soon-to-crown King to be, senses that something "is amiss."  That's his job, and that's why he is going to be King, even if you left him down by the castle (Chinon) at the start of the mission.  However, he, wherever he is, will be telling you that which you already know, so enjoy the cutscene and then continue heading north along the western wall.  You'll get a message saying that you're "trapped" in castle; not true, as both gates can be opened from the inside.

Notice the 5-man squad of English archers directly in front of you; they're invulnerable to your arrows, for now at least.  But, approach the first east-west walkway and you'll get the cutscene.  You're betrayed!  (Not!)  When the archers "turn coats" against you, take out the those archers and the 3-man squad (English) who is in the tower just to your right.  A number of enemy units will spawn at this point, including, a seven-man squad of Burgundian archers just north of the castle's south gate.  Return to help Jean and La Hire; you'll encounter some Burgundian and a 5-man English squad of infantry atop the east-west balcony walkway, along with several 5-man squads of infantry when you return to the south tower.  A seven-man squad of heavy Burgundian infantry will also come south to attach you.

When things have settled down at the south end of the castle, put Jean and La Hire into a hold status, and as before, climb the western balcony, returning to the first east-west walkway.  Continue north keeping an eye on your HUD, just in case Jean and/or La Hire would be attacked, which should not be the case.  As you approach the second east-west balcony of Auxerres, you'll encounter a 4-man Burgundian squad of archers in a tower farther to the north, followed by some melee troops, likely, the remnant of the previous 5-man squad of English infantry.  Keep going and turn right at the second east-west balcony; you'll get a cutscene from Sir William Glasdale.  He's commanding a 8-man squad of heavy Burgundian infantry, with a leaderless 6-man group of heavy Burgundian infantry behind him with another leaderless 5-man group of English macemen.

Soon Sir William and the aforementioned soldiers will climb the stairs to meet their Maker, so start snipering as soon as they approach.  When William appears, do to him what you did on the three prior occasions while slowing retreating to the first archer tower along the western wall, reversing directions as necessary.  Use four or five explosive arrows to allow you and William some space, and when he drops, watch him disappear and then pick up his dropped key.

While fighting, you'll get a least one message from Charles that he is in trouble due to the fact that he is no longer on your long-range map.  Not too worry.  As long as Charles has the Duke and his mixed 13-man squad following him and he is following Orleans, Charles should be safe.  However, just to be safe, switch to the Duke if Charles should take any damage whatsoever.  Remember, his health is low to begin with!

Return to the second east-west balcony and go east, climbing the central tower to collect the L2 of Seal of the Living God.  Leave the 5-man leaderless group of Burgundian archers on the ground to your north alone for now.  Once you have picked-up the charm, continue east to clear-out another 4-man squad of Burgundian archers in a tower and any straggling English macemen.  When you reach the eastern wall, go due south and take-out the a 5-man squad of English archers along the wall to the south and another 4-man squad of English archers in a tower.  When you reach the first (most southern) east-west wall, go west to quickly eliminate a 6-man squad of English crossbowmen.  A 4-man squad of Burgundian infantry will likely climb the stairs to meet their doom.  Joan, at this point, can easily eliminate them all by herself!

Return to La Hire & Jean along the eastern wall, scour the south platform for dropped goodies, and then get everyone, yourself included, on the ground of the castle.  Put Jean & La Hire in follow-mode and then go due north, killing all of the remaining enemy.  At the first east-west walkway, you'll encounter some stragglers of light and heavy Burgundian infantry, a 5-man squad of Burgundian infantry, a mixed 7-man squad of 5 English crossbowmen and two Burgundian infantry who are commanded by a crossbowman, and another 5-man squad of Burgundian infantry, all in the middle of the castle's grounds.  You will, of course, need to climb the stairs to finish-off the crossbowmen, who will not come down to fight you.

As you cross north past the second east-west walkway, you'll encounter a 6-man squad of light Burgundian infantry, a 6-man English squad of 5 macemen and their lone poleman commander.  As you enter the northern part of the castle, take an immediate right to "curve around" toward a leaderless 6-man group of heavy Burgundian infantry are guarding the castle's north gate.  They, along with the remaining 5-man group of Burgundian archers (who you saw earlier), are all that remain on the castle's northwest side ground floor.  Climb the castle's northernmost stairs to finish-off two leaderless groups of 4-man Burgundian archers (who'll be shooting at you) and the castle will be yours!  You can, if you wish, have the Duke build a fauconneau or cannon, and destroy the archer towers that are in the middle of the castle (the ones at the ends are indestructible), but be sure not to destroy any gates and/or blast a hole in the south wall!

Note the north gate of Auxerres, now closed, which will "magically" open after you capture the castle.  Note on your long-range map the French town off in the distance to the north that is under siege.  Just to be safe, close the north gate.  Return south of the castle to collect the goodies from the English "assassin squad" (which will always consist of 16 leaderless English -- 4 archers, 4 crossbowmen, 4 light infantry, and 4 heavy infantry), do a "quick scan" of the area to the south for any missed goodies, and then move the entire army into the castle, closing the south gate.  Don't forget Charles' horse, if he is not still riding it.  Climb the south tower and hit F2 for a last look at Chinon way to the south; we won't be coming back.

Time to free the trapped elders.  They are easy to find; they are locked in a tower cell on the northern wall to the east of the north gate.  You can see them on your map by the cluster of white squares.  First, go chat with Richard and Olivia (and Bernard, if you have not already spoke with him), and to maximize the game's messages, pass the prison cell key to Orleans, and then head up to the gate to open it; you'll fail, of course, so have Jean go up to open it even without the key.  Consider that to be a small souvenir!  Enjoy the brief cutscene and then pick up your new L5 compound bow, the one that you did not pay 10K for on the last mission.  Return to Richard and Olivia for some final dialogue.

Time for some shopping.  Visit the blacksmith to buy Joan's new high-grade armor, her first upgrade since Mission 2; after that, outfit Alencon with his new "dudes," sell-off your extra charms and weapons, buy some more regular arrows & bolts (if necessary), and then scour the castle for goodies.  Look especially at the tops of the towers and in the rooms -- you'll get a L1 Tiger's Eye gem on top of the north tower, a L2 Warrior of Infinity (keep that for you, Joan) on top of the first mid-tower (you should have already cleared the second mid-tower, which should have had yet another charm), as well as some food items in crates in some of the tower rooms and on the ground, especially, in the corners.

If RTS mode is working, assign 20 men to follow Charles and 18 to follow Orleans; just make sure that Alencon has 17 following him.  Switch to the Duke and recruit manually if necessary.  (Remember to hit F1 if RTS is acting goofy.)  Leave Joan, Jean, and La Hire without any troops, as our goal is to level them up to Level 25, if possible.  Alencon should, of course, already be at Level 25.

Bring the army to the north gate with Joan at the vanguard with the same "follow mode" as before -- Joan is followed by Jean, La Hire, and Orleans; Charles follows Orleans with the Duke in the rear following Charles.  (Now would be a good time to create a special save file called "Charles in trouble!", which you can load after the game is over; just exit out of the north gate with you and Charles, closing it behind you, to hear his dialogue as he gets attacked.)  Ahead is two English squads, a 6-man leaderless group of infantry and a 6-man leaderless group of macemen, with three leaderless archers behind each squad for a total of six.  After positioning the army just beyond the north gate the best you can, be sure to close it even if some troops are still within Auxerres, so as to prevent any civilians from wandering off.

Have the Duke dismount (if Charles got knocked-off his horse), put everyone (except Joan, you) into a hold status, and then have Joan venture north by herself until you get your soon-to-be crowned King's excellent advice.  Once Charles is done talking, have Joan attract the melee troops' attention and then retreat to the army.  After the melee troops are dead, have Joan (you) go and sniper from afar the six Burgundian archers.  This would be a good time to switch and compare crossbows.  (Do you notice any difference?!)  Finally, note that Charles will be safe from any English "assassin squads", who will only attack him either from the south of Auxerres or from the north of Troyes, your next castle which is due north.

After the six archers have been slain one-by-one, return to Auxerres to free any trapped men, closing its gate for good.  Continue north alone; a 6-man group of leaderless Burgundian light infantry await.  Lead them back to the army; after finishing them off, lead the leaderless 6-man group of heavy Burgundian knights back to the army for their doom.  Approach the 2-man squad of English archers to your right, which will attract the attention of a leaderless 6-man group of English macemen farther up to the right.  Return to sniper the archers.  Two 3-man leaderless groups of Burgundian archers are in the forest; sniper them, but keep your distance.  Be sure to smash the crate along the right wall.  (Once again, now would be a good time to compare crossbows; the Dragonbow is, in fact, the most powerful!)

Return to the left wall.  Off in the distance is another leaderless 6-man group of English macemen.  Approach slowly and you'll attract the attention of the men who are guarding the small town:  four 2-man squads, which will consist of a squad of Burgundian light infantry and squads of English macemen, polemen, infantry, and finally, another 2-man squad of English archers who are camping-out behind the wooden shed to your left (which Alencon does not need to use), along with five leaderless Burgundian regular infantry.  After leading these fellas, one of whom will drop a L2 Quartz Crystal gem, back to the army, bring the army forward to decimate the English macemen keeping everyone to the left.  As you approach the town, sniper the four leaderless English crossbowmen who are southwest of Troyes.

During each skirmish be sure to keep a good eye on Charles' health, and also, Orleans.  Just make sure that the Duke has dismounted the horse (if Charles is not still riding it) at the north gate of Auxerres.  We'll pick it up after Troyes has been liberated.  Liberate Croncels and then talk to its inhabitants, picking-up the town's goodies and a L1 diamond.  Of the five townspeople, four will repeat their dialogue with you, which contains excellent advice, until the end of the game; the fifth, a woman will ignore you after giving you some food.  After visiting and scouring, return to Auxerres to pick-up Charles' horse (if he is not still riding it) and any missed goodies, but keep everyone away from the horse, lest they get "stuck."

Head back north, this time hugging the "right wall" and collect the goodies in the wooden crates to your right.  Put the army in a hold status just south of the forest and head north alone but center yourself exactly in the middle of the wide path.  Leaven Alencon (or Charles) mounted for now but keep (or, reposition) them south of the forest at all times.  Just on the outside of the small forest to its north are some more squads:  2-man squad of English infantrymen, two 2-man squads of English archers, and a 2-man squad of English polemen.

After leading these fellas back to the army for their doom, attract the attention of six remaining squads or groups of men:  a 6-man leaderless group of heavy Burgundian infantry, a 6-man leaderless group of light Burgundian infantry to their left, a 4-man leaderless group of English archers next to the right-side of the path, and finally, guarding Troye's south gate, a 2-man squad of polemen, a 2-man squad of infantry, and a 2-man squad of macemen, all English.

Do NOT attack Troyes but do enjoy the cutscenes, which you will likely need to trigger by running up next to Troyes' south gate.  The English soldiers atop the tower are ready for some action, however, they'll have to wait for now.  After the troops guarding Troyes' southern gate have been killed, head right (east) as quickly as you can, as you'll be taking fire from the south tower platform.

Once your men are clear of Troyes head east to get another cutscene, one that you would not have gotten if you had attacked (and, presumably, conquered) Troyes.  Six infantrymen will spawn; enjoy the dialogue, but immediately after that, hit F2, and position the infantrymen a short distance from where they are to a point that is against the wall due north of their present position, ideally, in a "little cove" that you can discern on your map right next to the tree.  If you do not do this, they will be in range of the enemy archers at Troyes, who will likely kill at least one of them.

Have the Duke dismount again (if Charles hasn't already been knocked off, which is likely to have been the case.)  Continue east, taking note of the concentric rings and staying to your right to avoid attracting enemies.  Park your army, and using SP, fight your way until you come to a small sidepath to your right, one that leads to a bridge and then a gloomy waterfall, completely different from those earlier (note the "frozen water" leading into it.)  You'll first encounter leaderless groups of 4 heavy infantry, 4 regular infantry, 4 heavy infantry, 3 archers, and three lone maceman, all English.

At the entrance to the sidepath to your right will be a 7-man squad of 5 Burgundian infantrymen and two English crossbowmen, who are commanded by one of the crossbowmen.  If you attack the squad's leader, the entire squad will retreat to the first inner ring.  After turning right into the sidepath, you'll be attacked in the front by three 2-man squads of infantry, macemen, and crossbowmen and from behind by two additional 2-man squads of infantry and macemen, all English, the latter who are stationed in the first inner ring.  The mixed 7-man squad will also attack you from behind, assuming, of course, that they were able to successfully retreat in the first place.

Continue around the path and up and over the bridge to finish off a 2-man English squad of polemen and a 5-man English squad of 3 macemen and 2 archers, who are commanded by an archer.  Across from the waterfall is a new and final sword which awaits Jean, the L5 Oriflamme; pick that up, along with a large supply of regular and explosive arrows and a L3 Diamond (give that to Charles and his L2 Diamond to the Duke, if the latter does not already have it) and then head back to where you entered the sidepath and continue heading north around the outer ring.  You'll come to an entrance leading toward De la Montagne du Lion; ignore it for now and continue looping around the outer concentric circle.

You'll meet varying groups enemies along way (see the next paragraph), nothing that you and your army cannot handle.  After each skirmish, search the immediate area before moving on; we won't be coming back.  You'll likely "attract" the attention of enemy troops on the middle ring, who will come after you.  Don't be surprised if one of your commanders (likely, Jean) "takes off" to go fight them.  Just keep a good eye on his health; better yet, if he (or another commander) takes off, immediately put them in a hold status.  To prevent this from happening (especially, with Charles), move slowly and keep all of your men together.

First off, you'll encounter two leaderless groups of English who are guarding the outer ring, a 4-man group of archers who are flanked by four macemen.  After them are leaderless groups of 2 English polemen, two groups of 3 heavy Burgundian infantry, 3 English polemen, and 2 regular Burgundian infantry.  After these fellas, two English macemen will attack you as continue around the outer ring; next, you'll encounter two English crossbowmen, 3 heavy Burgundian infantry, 4 light Burgundian infantry, and 4 English macemen, all leaderless and all of whom will be facing the "wrong" way!  Return to where you started, just east of the six French infantrymen.  Note that if you get close to the next inner ring, you'll attract the attention of the troops within.

While hugging the left wall, continue back to the entrance to De la Montagne du Lion and enter, this time taking the middle path.  Before entering the middle path or shortly thereafter, you'll encounter leaderless groups of 6 English macemen and 4 light Burgundian infantry.  Once in the path, you'll have a 2-man squad of English polemen, a leaderless group of 4 heavy Burgundian infantry, and three leaderless English archers in consecutive towers to finish-off before reaching the path which leads to the very inner ring.

Skipped that inner path for now and instead continue on the middle path, following it to its end; you'll encounter leaderless units:  one English crossbowmen, a English archer in a tower, another crossbowman, two heavy Burgundian infantry, a light Burgundian infantryman, a third English crossbowman, a lone Burgundian light infantryman, three leaderless English crossbowmen, another lone Burgundian light infantryman, two leaderless English crossbowmen, and finally, a lone Burgundian heavy infantryman.

As before, you'll "attract" the attention of enemy soldiers who are stationed in the most inner ring, so keep everyone together and keep a good eye on your long-range map.  Prepare to do some backtracking to support your troops at the rearguard, an almost certain scenario, as you'll be attacked from the rear by three leaderless Burgundian infantrymen, a 2-man squad of English archers, and a 3-man squad of one heavy English infantryman and two English crossbowmen, who are commanded by the English knight.

After collecting the near-worthless goodies at the end of the path middle path, return to the entrance to the inner ring; time to attack Camp De la Montagne du Lion.  After entering the most inner ring, you'll encounter a 2-man English squad of archers, a 2-man squad of English heavy infantrymen, and seven leaderless English archers in towers who are guarding the most inner ring.  An empty wooden crate sits at the entrance to the camp.

Jean, as before, may "take off" on his own sortie; just keep a good eye on his health, as you stay with the army.  When you get the cutscene, create a special save file (call it "trebuchets" or something similar), as you did back in Mission 7 with the battering ram.  After the game is completed, we'll be loading this save file.

Attack the camp, but do NOT use explosive arrows/bolts.  A 5-man English squad of three macemen and two crossbowmen, who are commanded by a crossbowman, are guarding the camp's entrance.  Further up the path are a 2-man English squad of heavy infantrymen, a 6-man English squad of 4 archers and 2 crossbowmen (who are commanded by a crossbowman), a 4-man squad of English heavy infantrymen, a 5-man squad of English archers, and a 10-man English squad of six macemen and four heavy infantrymen, who are commanded by a heavy infantryman.  I would recommend that you put  everyone into a hold status and then run into the camp as fast as you can until you get an "almost there" message!

Once the camp is yours, collect the goodies, which will consist of a L1 Hematite Bloodstone and L1 Amulet of Yahweh, worthless bling which you can sell-off later on, along with some food items.  (Climb one of the western archer towers to have a "look down" on Troyes.)  Hit F2 to assign the six infantrymen just east of Troyes to each of the two trebuchets, 3 at a time.  You don't need to aim the trebuchets; instead, head back to Troyes, placing Orleans, Charles, and Alencon in a hold status just east of the trees and small wooden hut, both of which are, of course, east of Troyes.  By the time you reach this area, you'll have received a message that the eastern wall of Troyes has been destroyed; you can, if you wish, double-click on the trebuchets to stop their fire, and I recommend that you do so!

Atop the Troye's southern gate platform are a 7-man squad of Burgundian archers, a 7-man squad of English polemen, and two arbalests.  If you approach the south gate from outside the castle, it will, for some unknown reason (perhaps a munitions accident?!), explode.  Out will come 6 English macemen and 6 light Burgundian infantrymen, all leaderless (or thereabouts)!  Another 7-man squad of English polemen will follow; over by the shoppe is another 7-man squad of English polemen and a 7-man squad of English archers.  Guarding the middle entrance to the case is a group of six English polemen and to their west, 7 heavy Burgundian infantrymen, all leaderless.

Atop the southern wall (Working counter-clockwise from the south tower) are 6 archers and 5 archers along the wall as it goes north to the platform connecting the first east-west walkway, which has a group of 4 crossbowmen.  Directly to their north are another group of 4 archers with another 4 crossbowmen on another platform father north; directly west across the mid-walkway are 6 archers to the east of the castle's mid-tower.  Atop the tower are a group of four leaderless Burgundian archers.

West of the castle's mid-tower are another 6 archers with 4 crossbowmen on the western platform, but the southwestern wall is empty as is the northwestern wall but another 4 crossbowmen are on a platform farther north.  On the southwestern platform are 4 crossbowmen (who were shooting at you earlier when you liberated Croncels) and the most south wall west of the south gate, like its eastern counterpart, has 6 archers.  All of these fellas are English and all are leaderless.

Storm the castle with Jean & La Hire in tow.  Defeat the melee troops that you encounter and then talk to the shoppe owner for the dialogue; unlike the blacksmith at Auxerres, he's not willing to serve you, but will be soon.  Head north into the castle and meet Lord John Fastolf, whom you defeated twice near the end of Mission 6.  He'll fight no better this time, however, it's going to be 3-on-1, so keep a good eye on Jean and La Hire's health.  They'll take some damage from Fastolf at this point, but should be strong enough to survive, IF you keep their HPs above 50% at all times.  Remember that a ham will restore health to 100%; don't use any chickens -- we're saving those as souvenirs.  Use explosive arrows/bolts to help Jean and La Hire out, and when most of Fastolf's melee troops are dead, pelt him with regular arrows/bolts until he drops.

Fastolf will have a large contingent with him.  A group of 8 English macemen will be guarding the stairs to the mid-walkway to his southeast with another 5 English maceman to his southwest, both leaderless; and a 6-man group of heavy Burgundian infantrymen will be to his northwest with an identical group to his northeast, both leaderless.  Another group of 6 leaderless English polemen are directly behind him (to his north.)  He'll be commanding 6 English macemen and 3 heavy Burgundian infantrymen and will be accompanied a 7-man squad of regular English infantrymen immediately to his west and an adjoining 7-man squad of heavy English infantrymen immediately to his east.

Finally, along the northern wall, from west to east, are 4 English crossbowmen on the northwestern platform with 6 Burgundian archers to their east.  Atop the northern platform are 4 English crossbowmen with a corresponding set of 6 Burgundian archers to their east with yet another 4 English crossbowmen on the northeastern platform.  Finish off the guys atop the wall first and then go after the crossbowmen atop the tower.

Note that the two trebuchets will continue to attack Troyes until it falls (unless, of course, you stopped them); you'll likely see a few projectiles hitting English melee troops whom you are fighting, archers along the eastern wall (if they are not killed before you get to them, which should not be the case) and even troops whom you lead south to the north gate of Troyes, if you decide to attack north before Troyes falls.  The castle will only fall once you've killed all of the enemies within its walls as well as any enemies which are just north of Troyes' north gate, so you'll need to open the north gate to take the castle.  Of course, close it once the castle is yours!

You can, if you want, repeat the same procedure that you did in Auxerres -- have the Duke move the cannon or fauconneau north out of Auxerres, and destroy the archer towers on the castle's southwest, southeast and northwest sides.  You can also blast a hole in the southeast side of the castle's wall, if you wish, also.  If you do this, just be sure to make sure that the southern platform is completely clear of enemies, along with the wooded area just south of the castle.  (At most there will be 5 infantrymen, all leaderless, whom you did not finish-off earlier.)  Provide cover for your fauconneau or cannon, as your unit will be taking fire in the northern area of the castle.

Finally, note that you could lead Fastolf out of the north gate, return and close it, and then hack him to death, but that would not be very chivalric, so we will not be doing that!  For some strange reason, if you attack Troyes and enter it through the southern gate and then attack it using the trebuchets, all of the enemies within Troyes will die after the walls of the castle fall.  (Why, I do not know!)  If you decide to do this, make sure that you kill-off everyone inside the castle *prior* to attacking it with the trebuchets!

Head back to the south tower to clear it out.  When finished, hit F2 for one last look at Auxerres; we won't be coming back.  Once the castle has fallen, grab Charles' horse and move the army into the castle.  Three treasure chests are in the castle -- one along the western wall (L1 Black Star Opal), a second on the mid-tower (L1 Tiger's Eye), and the third atop the north gate (L2 Quartz Crystal.)  Note that if you open the south gate, you won't be able to close it, not that such matters, as there is a hole in the eastern wall anyways.  Be sure to check the south (and, especially, the southeastern) side of Troyes to make sure that there are no enemies still lurking nearby!

Go talk to the shoppe owner; he has a worthless L3 Crusher Battle Mace for you.  Talk to him a second time to get some additional dialogue and then stock-up on food, buying all of the chickens.  (We want to finish the game with each of your generals and future King with one complete row of chicken, ham and fish.  Why, I don't know, but we just do.)  Next, go replenish any lost men from the barracks.  Assemble everyone at the north gate which, like Auxerres' north gate, has mysteriously opened.

If you wish, you can leave Charles' horse (if he got knocked off) at the barracks (we'll be coming back, but I recommend that you have Alencon continue to ride the horse) and pass through the north entrance, attacking any enemy units in site.  You'll be greeted by a group of 6 infantrymen; to their east will be 6 heavy infantry, and to their east another 6 infantry, all English and all leaderless.  Further north are groups of 5 English archers, 6 heavy Burgundian infantry behind the archers, 6 light Burgundian infantry a little west with an identical group to the northwest of the archers, all of whom are leaderless.  Use SP and try to fight everyone (except for the archers) on the bridge due north of Troyes.  Further north just before the second bridge are 5 Burgundian archers to the west and 4 English crossbowmen just south of it, all leaderless.

You'll come to town (Bussy Lettree) with the last blacksmith in the game.  Once again, use SP on the bridge just south of town.  You'll encounter 5 polemen who are on the bridge with 4 archers to their northwest and another 4 archers to their northeast, all English and all leaderless.  A very unique 13-man English squad is just north of the bridge consisting of 5 light infantrymen, 3 heavy infantrymen, 2 archers, 2 macemen, and 1 crossbowman, who are commanded by a maceman.  To this squad's northeast are a 2-man squad of English archers.

On the north side town are two unique squads of English soldiers.  The first is a 15-man squad of 3 archers, 3 crossbowmen, 3 heavy infantrymen, and 6 light infantrymen, who are commanded by an infantryman.  The second is another 15-man squad of a mixture similar, if not identical, to the first one.  (It's difficult to tell!)  These guys are, for some unknown reason, all facing north!  (Confusion, perhaps?)  In any case, you can talk to the blacksmith, if you sneak slowly over to him staying as far east as you can.  Just north of town is a 11-man English squad of 2 polemen, 2 light infantry, 3 heavy infantry, 3 crossbowmen, and 1 archer.  As you engage them, 3 English macemen, 3 English archers, and 3 heavy Burgundian infantry, all leaderless, will attack you, along with a 2-man squad of English archers just northeast of town.

Once the town has been conquered along with the area just north of it, return to buy the L9 Holy Crusader Broadsword (if you have not bought it already.)  It's pricey but is more powerful than your L8 Knights Templar sword, plus it looks cool and you have plenty of cash.  Buy the L3 Warrior of Infinity for yourself (Joan).  Sell-off your L2 Warrior of Infinity (the Duke should already have one), the L3 Crusher Battle Mace, Jean's now-obsolete L4 Liberator, your L8 Knights Templar sword, etc.  Sell-off the L1 Malachite which you should find in the town's treasure chest.  Replenish your regular arrows & bolts; make sure that you have 300 of each.  Not to worry; we'll be coming back for more.  As I mentioned in the introduction, you should have no need to have ever bought any explosive bolts and/or arrows.

Head north and ignore the small town to the west for now.  Various scattered and mixed English & Burgundians units are ready to meet you.  First some English -- 4 archers, 3 crossbowmen, and 3 archers, all leaderless.  After these fellas, you'll be greeted by some Burgundians -- 4 heavy infantry and 3 regular infantry, again leaderless.  Next in line are a 2-man squad of English polemen followed by a leaderless group of 5 heavy English infantrymen.  Finally, you'll encounter a 2-man squad of English macemen; turn around after defeating these fellas, staying well south of the wooden gate.

Once the area is clear, return to the small town, Saint Martin.  At the town's entrance and within it are six 3-man English squads -- polemen, crossbowmen, heavy infantry, macemen, light infantry, and archers.  As with some other towns in the game, this one has been completely destroyed by the English and its population killed.  (Did the English really do that??  I don't think so.)  Collect the goodies, which include yet another longbow and Sentinel crossbow, and smash the empty crates to the north and collect the chicken and apple in the crates to the west.

Once done, head north to the small camp (Camp du marais aux fougeres -- whew, what a name!) for a short cutscene ("Are you hands really dirty?").  It's another "tough room," so keep everyone together.  As such, it is best to fight the initial battles just south of the camp's southern gate.  (See how having a horse really helps on a medieval battlefield, assuming, of course, that you brought him/her!)  You'll be greeted by two nasty 6-man squads with another 6-man squad to your northwest and a 7-man squad who are guarding the two cannons, all English and all light infantry.

Make sure that you are in position to watch the camp's north gate open (you can actually open it yourself, unlike the camp's south gate, which cannot be closed); after decimating the melee units which initially attack you, kill one and only one of each of the two infantrymen who are manning the cannons, which means using your bow.  Let your men finish the others off so that you can watch the gate open.  Pick up a L2 Citrine Spiral Pendant (or Quartz Crystal, or something else?) in a treasure chest, along with some other goodies scattered throughout the camp.

Cross the bridge and make a "hard left" (east), ignoring the 5 English archers who are just ahead of you and the 6 light Burgundian infantry to your east, both leaderless; if they attack, let your men at the rearguard take care of them.  Almost immediately you'll be attacked by a leaderless group of six English macemen; after finishing them off, another group of 4 Burgundian infantrymen will attack followed by 5 heavy knights, all leaderless.  A 2-man squad archers will provide cover with another 5-man squad of archers at the rear, both English.  When you get to the bridge, sniper the two 2-man squads of English archers to the east; a lone and leaderless Burgundian infantryman may attack from the east.

Step onto the bridge and enjoy the cutscene; Lord Scales is hungry, and he intends on keeping the farmland which he stole from the French.  Apparently, his days of "being aggressive" are over, well, almost.  Head left (south) across the bridge into the very large village of Sezanne-sur-Champagne; immediately, you'll be attacked by some English infantrymen and Burgundian infantrymen and knights, so fight everyone on the bridge.

Move forward to attract more enemies, which will consist of a 3-man group of leaderless light Burgundian infantry, a 2-man squad of heavy English infantry, a 2-man squad of light English infantry, a leaderless 4-man group of heavy Burgundian infantry, a 2-man squad of English macemen, and a leaderless 3-man group of light Burgundian infantry.  Three leaderless groups of English macemen are to their rear, two 3-man groups, and a to your southeast, a 4-man group.

After killing them, move forward hugging the "left wall."  Slowly clean-out the area, putting Charles & Orleans (and the Duke, if he is not in follow mode) into a hold status next to the windmill.  If Orleans is at or near level 24, take him with you to the next bridge, otherwise, park him next to the windmill with the others, especially, if he is below level 23.  Just east of the windmill are 4-man leaderless groups of light Burgundian infantry, English macemen, light English infantry, and 4-man and 1-man (unique in the game as far as I can tell!) squads of English archers who are just south of the next bridge.  Regardless of Orleans' level, park him southeast of the bridge; do NOT have him fight with you against Lord Scales!

Cross east over the bridge, killing the three leaderless English polemen who are guarding it and  prepare to fight Lord Scales, who is commanding a squad of 8 light Burgundian infantry and 1 heavy English infantryman.  Look to your right (northeast); you'll be able to see Lord Scales.  But, first there will be another two 1-man squad of English archers, one on each side of the bridge; the one on the right will drop a L2 Malachite.

Behind them will be three leaderless heavy Burgundian infantry with a 2-man squad of English macemen and a 2-man squad of English polemen behind them to their northeast.  A 2-man squad of English infantry will be just southwest of Lord Scales.  A group of 3 English crossbowmen will be to the northwest just south of the shoppe with a group of 3 English macemen behind the hut just beyond the bridge, all leaderless.  A little further behind the hut will be yet another leaderless group of 3 light Burgundian infantry and further to their north will be another set of 3 leaderless English crossbowmen, who you should ignore for now.  Finally, another 2-man squad of English infantrymen are to their east, just west of Lord Scales.  Everyone, except for the crossbowmen, will attack you as you get close to them, so creep and/or use an arrow, if necessary, to get things started.

To make matters simpler, clear-out all of these fellas before engaging Lord Scales, who you should fight northeast of the bridge, along with everyone else.  As before, use some explosive arrows/bolts to get Jean & La Hire started against Lord Scales, watch their health closely, and when all of Scale's melee units are dead, finish him off with regular arrows.  Remember, when Scales and the other Lord's have an aurora about their bodies, they are invincible.  Replenish everyone's health when it drops below 50%.

After Scales is dead, release everyone and then finish off the remaining enemies in the area.  A 2-man squad of English polemen are just northeast of where Lord Scales was camping out.  Going east (in a counter-clockwise direction) are three sets of 3-man groups of archers and the 3-man group of English crossbowmen whom I mentioned earlier, all leaderless.  In a treasure chest on the southeast side of the village is the Duke's final weapon, a L5 Twin Lions, so go pick that up.  Finally, to conquer the town go north to finish-off two 2-man squads of English archers, whose backs will to you.  Due west (again, facing the "wrong way") will be 2 groups of 3-man Burgundian heavy infantry, both leaderless, so finish them off.

Prepare to go to the next enemy camp (Camp du Champagne) that is due north of you.  After curving around the path, you'll encounter a 6-man group of English light infantry in their classic "bowling pin" formation; next will be 5 heavy Burgundian infantry all in a row.  Two English archers will flank the camp's entrance with another two in the towers.  In the first inner section will be 7 English macemen, 7 light Burgundian infantry, and 2 English polemen with two sets of 3-man Burgundian archers guarding the inner section of the camp on each side.  In the inner section will be 6 heavy Burgundian infantry guarding the two treasure chests.  All of these enemies will be leaderless, and to make things easier, you can attract the macemen and Burgundian infantry by "snuggling" the wall that is due south of the camp, but I would not recommend that!

If Joan is not yet at Level 28, have her conquer the camp by herself; otherwise, have everyone conquer it together.  Have Joan (you) focus on the archers while leaving the melee troops to everyone else.  As before, watch everyone's health closely, especially, Orleans and Charles, but with your large army, the camp will fall easily.  Conquer the inner section first, as the heavy Burgundian knights will, unlike the macemen and Burgundian infantry, wait to fight you there.

An upgrade L2 Amulet of our Lord is in one of the treasure chests (give that to La Hire), which is next to another treasure chest (the "sacred treasurer" chest), which you cannot yet open, but try anyway to get the dialogue.  Once Camp du Champagne is yours, scour the camp for goodies and return to the windmill via the bridge that you fought on before and scour the area for goodies in RTS mode, which will give you a lovely view of the area.  Visit the last shoppe in the game for more chicken, ham, etc., selling off all of your apples.

Once you are done collecting and killing, head back to the bridge that is just north of Camp du marais aux fougeres and head northwest.  Finish off the 5 archers, 6 macemen, 6 polemen, and another 6 macemen, all English and leaderless, along with the six light Burgundian infantrymen to the northeast of the bridge, also leaderless.  Two 4-man groups of leaderless English archers are to the rear, so sniper them and then regroup before proceeding north.

Avoid the island castle, Chalons, which is to your northwest for now.  (Just do not go up onto the bridge.)  Two leaderless 6-man groups of heavy infantry with six polemen behind them, all English and leaderless are guarding the bridge.  To the north stand 7 English polemen and two 6-man groups of heavy Burgundian infantry with 4 English crossbowmen just south of the small camp (Camp par le lac), all leaderless.  Attract the attention of the guys guying Chalons and then proceed north to conquer the small camp.  Inside the camp will be two 2-man squad of light infantry and two 2-man squads of macemen, both English.  After killing them, do a solo sortie to finish-off the 4 leaderless English archers who are just to the camp's northwest, leading the 4 leaderless English macemen who are to its northeast back to the army for killing.

Park everyone, except for La Hire, in Camp par le lac, but have Alencon dismount Charles' horse, if he is riding it.  (If you've followed my instructions, you should only need to place Jean and Orleans in a hold status), pick up the L2 Seal of the Living God (which you can sell-off later), leave the gate OPEN behind them, and head over to Chalons.  Enjoy the cutscene with Duke Borgundhom, switch to La Hire, and then run-up to the gate and have him beat-on the western gate, which is the only gate to the castle, until its health indicator is less than 25%.  Return La Hire to Camp par le lac, placing him in a hold status.  Finish off the gate with explosive arrows, and after it falls, prepare for a fray.  Duke Borgundhom does not yet know whom he is dealing with!

In any case, the good Duke knows how to make allies, and the English and Burgundians are, within his walls at least, pals.  You'll be fighting a very large number of enemies in a very small space (the most concentrated collection of enemies in the entire game), so let's get started.  Duke Borgundhom will be commanding 4 heavy Burgundian infantry, 4 heavy English infantry, and 8 English archers.  To his right (your left) will be 4 heavy Burgundian infantry with 8 English archers behind them, all leaderless.  To your right will be another 4 heavy Burgundian infantry but with 8 English crossbowmen, all leaderless.  Farther north near the stairs will be 8 English archers, also leaderless.

Behind Duke Borgundhom will be 8 light Burgundian infantry, and near the town's sole water fountain will be 8 light Burgundian infantry in their classic rectangular formation with a line of 8 heavy Burgundian infantry directly behind them.  Near the barracks will be a large leaderless contingent consisting of 8 light Burgundian infantry with six Burgundian archers behind them at the barracks entrance.  Another 6 English archers will be to the barracks north with 8 Burgundian archers behind them, all leaderless.  That's where you'll find the town's mayor and priest.

To make matters worse, you'll be bombarded from above, so keep a good eye on everyone's health.  Atop the tower of the castle's only (western) gate, you'll find a 2-man squad of English archers on the north and south platforms,  Going north (clockwise) atop the wall, you'll encounter 4 English crossbowmen, 2 English archers just behind them, 6 English archers along the northern wall, 5 Burgundian archers on the northernmost platform, two 4-man groups of English archers on the castle's back (east) wall, another 5 Burgundian archers on the southeast platform, 9 English archers on the southern wall, and finally, two English crossbowmen who are south of the main gate.

As before, get everything started with some explosive arrows.  Fight Duke Borgundhom at the gate until he is dead.  (As I mentioned above, you could at this point lead him wherever you want all over the map, including, all the way back to the start of the game.)  After this, release everyone from their hold status and then run to the rear of the castle on its northeast side to get some extra dialogue from the priest and mayor firing explosive arrows and/or bolts along the way.  Before the castle falls, Joan needs to go beyond Level 29, and so, kill accordingly!  As such, you will likely need to delay the army's entrance into the castle; just leave 30 explosive arrows for the final battle.

Methodically clean-out the castle grounds and when most everyone is dead, climb the stairs to finish-off the horde of range units who will have been attacking you.  Of course, as always, they'll be shooting at where "you were" and not where "you're going," so you should not have taken too much damage.  Hopefully, you have followed my advice and have several hundred arrows/bolts at your disposal, because you'll need them!  As Orleans, Charles, and Alencon enter the castle, be sure to keep an almost constant eye on their and their men's health.  Make sure that NO ONE (Alencon, in particular) is riding the horse (except for Charles, of course, but he likely won't be for long)!!

Once you've made a complete circuit of the castle, climb the south latter atop the west gate to finish-off the archers who are on the platform at the top.  pick up the L3 Alexandrite which is nearly worthless.  (As a L3 charm, it will increase your fire rate a little, but it is more valuable for its "cash value".)  While climbing back down, pause to note Joan's beautiful face, as you will get a completely unique camera view of her very lovely hair, face, lips, and eyes.  (Okay, perhaps I am getting a little too "carried away" here, but Jehanne is lovely, isn't she?!  Better looking than Samus, in my opinion!)  Cross over the south gate to finish-off the remaining two archers who are on the platform to the north.  Another unique camera view of Jehanne awaits you, but not as nice as the other one.

Once the castle has fallen, scour it for goodies.  Note the two "floating barrels" to the northwest side of the castle; the level designers were getting a "tad lazy" here.  Talk to the priest & councillor again, this time to get the sacred chest key.  We'll be using that later, so return to Troyes to buy more chicken, ham, fish, etc. and to pick up Charles' horse (don't dismount Alencon after this) if you left it there, parking everyone outside Troyes' north gate while you (Joan) do a little "woman's work."  (I'm being "medieval" here!)  Head back north with the army in tow, stopping at the blacksmith, selling all of your excess weapons and charms, including your L9 Holy Crusader Broadsword; stock-up on regular arrows/bolts, if your total supply is below 600, which will be the case.

Give Joan (you), finally, the Saint Catherine Sword and return to Camp du Champagne to get your fifth and final cross, the Platinum cross.  Time for a group photo!  Move all of the crosses out of Jean's and your inventory onto the ground so that they are near each other, hit F2 and then F10 (assuming, of course, that you have redefined any of the keys) to snap a final picture.  The program will store it in the "ScreenShot" folder.

You've come a long way!!  Have Joan pick up all the crosses and then augment the Saint Catherine sword with each one.  Head back north of Camp par le lac to see the Saint Catherine sword in action with full augmentation.  At this point Joan will be absolutely unstoppable, so have fun!  However, if she is at level 29, go slow, because we want her to get to Level 30 at the last battle, so before that, try having her be just below the 90% mark (and definitively NOT below the 70% mark) to Level 30 just prior to the final battle, so she can at least fight at Level 30 for a short time.  We want to level-up the other commanders (especially, Charles and Orleans), if it at all possible, so plan carefully.

Return to Camp par le lac and position yourself directly to the camp's west; you'll going to encounter here very soon many leaderless groups.  First up and directly ahead of you will be 6 light Burgundian infantry; to their left (your right) will be 4 English archers with 6 heavy Burgundian infantry to the southeast of the archers.  Directly behind the light Burgundian infantry will be 5 English archers with 6 English macemen to their east with another 4 English archers to the macemen's' southwest (just northeast of the other 4 archers) with yet another group of 6 English macemen to the northeast of the archers.  Finally, a last and third group of 6 English macemen are just north of the moat surrounding Chalons well behind (east of) the 6 heavy Burgundian infantry.

So, go north for a bit to clear-out the area and then take a "sharp right" when you encounter a patch of trees (with four English crossbowmen north of it) to clean-out the area to the northwest and northeast of Chalons (you could have snipered some of the crossbowmen along Chalons' north wall if you had waited to attack the castle); continue following the line of trees due east.  You'll encounter a line of 4 crossbowmen with two groups of 6-man heavy infantry, all English and all leaderless.  Continue east as the terrain narrows to a point; you'll encounter 4 English archers and six light Burgundian infantry, all leaderless.

After this, backtrack DUE WEST to the northern line of trees where the four leaderless English crossbowmen are at; after defeating them, head north.  A large "skirmish line" of English troops await you (which you could have avoided if you had stayed east, but we want to "kill everyone", right?!) just north of the now-dead crossbowmen.  From "left to right" (east to west) are a 7-man group of macemen with 4 crossbowmen behind them, both English.  Next up is a 7-man group of English polemen, and to their left (your right) is another 7-man squad of macemen with 4 crossbowmen behind them, both English; behind these three leaderless groups are 4 English archers, also leaderless.  Farther to the east is are three leaderless groups of 4 light Burgundian infantry in a diagonal line leading to the northeast, who, like the others, you can avoid, if you wish (so don't!)

Keep the archers and crossbowmen busy (and moving) while your men pummel the melee troops.  Continue north to Sept Saulx; Reims will, finally, will soon be in view on your long-range map!!!  A leaderless group of 6 heavy infantry are in the field to the southwest of town with a 3-man squad of light infantry and a 2-man squad of macemen behind them, all English.  Two 2-man squads of English archers are guarding the trail leading to Reims.  Behind them are a 2-man squad of macemen and a 3-man squad of light infantry, both English.  Before conquering Sept Saul (Alencon seems a little "sleazy" here) head-up the path to Reims a short distance, finishing off these units that are at the entrance to the path.

After that, return to conquer Sept Saul; all that guard this small town are a 3-man squad of light infantry and a 2-man squad of macemen, both English.  pick up a L1 Citrine Spiral Pendant, which will be yours as a souvenir, along with a chicken and ham.  A leaderless group of 5 light Burgundian infantry on the northern path will "sense" you and come down the path to attack.  (The 5 English light infantry will, however, ignore you, for now.)  Finish them off and head north to Reims, following the path.

The path is pretty straightforward to follow.  Just concentrate on fighting the range units with the crossbow (preferably) and/or compound bow, letting your generals focus on the melee units, assisting as necessary.  Keep everyone together (make sure that Alencon has Charles' horse), as you slowly work your way northeast and then back to the west.  Be sure to backtrack a bit between skirmishes to pick up any goodies which the enemy dropped.  If one of your commanders (say, the Bastard) is at Level 24, fight alone with them; they will likely advance quickly.

You'll first encounter those 5 leaderless heavy English infantrymen who refused to attack you when you were in Sept Saul.  Next up are multiple sets of leaderless groups:  6 English macemen, 3 English archers, 6 light Burgundian infantry, 4 English macemen, 5 English archers, 3 English crossbowmen, and 4 heavy Burgundian infantry.  At this point you'll be taking fire from 8 English crossbowmen who are directly north of you, but you'll have to backtrack just a bit to get at them.

Continuing west you'll encounter more leaderless groups of 4 heavy Burgundian infantry, 4 light Burgundian infantry, two 3-man groups of English archers, 1 English maceman, 5 English heavy infantry, 3 English polemen, 4 English archers, 4 light Burgundian infantry, and when the path narrows, 4 heavy Burgundian infantry.  Use SP for best results.

When you come upon Reims you'll get a message from Alencon and then Charles.  At this point park everyone just inside the edge of the forest where the path circles a patch of trees.  Joan will soon be going solo, but at this point, she'll be the equivalent of the "Medieval Hawk Girl" (a woman of faith) and will simply be unstoppable.  Prior to her going into battle alone, transfer the compound bow and Dragon crossbow to Joan, plus all of the arrows and bolts.  Your main army has one last battle to fight.

A rectangular "skirmish line" of are between you and the castle, consisting of 6 English archers to the rear and two groups of 4 English macemen on both sides between 4 heavy Burgundian infantry, all leaderless.  Sir William da la Pole and Lord Jean de Luxembourg's army are to the southwest, so lead the "skirmish line" back to the army for decimation, avoiding "creep."  (You could at this point "sneak" Charles into the castle, but if you do that, you'll forfeit a side objective.)

After that, enjoy the brief cutscene and then engage Sir William and Lord Jean and their small army (all, apparently that's left of them) at point blank range.  Don't spare the explosive arrows, but whatever you do, kill Jean de Luxembourg first.  At their vanguard will be six 3-man English squads consisting of three squads of 3-man polemen, one 3-man squad of crossbowmen, one 3-man squad of light infantry, and one 3-man squad of macemen.  Sir William and Lord Jean will each be commanding their own 10-man squad consisting of 6 heavy Burgundian infantry and 3 English macemen.

Jean de Luxembourg will drop a sword, the Seeker of Light.  Pick it up and then use it to kill Sir William da la Pole.  When he's dead, he'll drop a worthless charm, a L1 Seal of the Living God.  Get the goodies at the southwest end of the path, and then, if necessary, bring the entire army forward a bit so that they are completely in range of the castle on your long-range map, but put everyone into a hold status a GOOD DISTANCE away from the castle gate, which means positioning them on the small path just outside of the forest which leads to the castle!  "Double check" at this point that there are no more English and/or "assassin squads" in the area (the entire map should be cleared at this point, although, an assassin squad could still appear if you left Charles far behind); the citizens inside the castle can be killed by them.

Hit F2 to open the gates of the castle!!!  Go into the castle followed by Jean, La Hire, Orleans, and finally, King Charles!  (The Duke will not make it inside before the cutscene, if he is on foot.  However, if he is riding the horse, you'll see him move into the castle during the cutscene!)  You could also, of course, move Orleans, the Duke, and finally, Charles, into the castle manually.)  Enjoy the cutscene and collect your worthless, but very, very meaningful, Empire Ring charm, for a job well done!!!  Enjoy the remaining few seconds of the game; Charles has disappeared.  Run up to the now-closed castle gate to reopen it one last time (you'll probably won't make it), if you wish!  Or, better yet, hit 'M' to re-read Charles' final words to you!!  If you've played the game correctly (by my standards, at least), you should have just over 300K in cash, a gift for your new king!

Enjoy the brief movie.  It's lovely.  After a brief, but glorious, rendition of Charles' coronation (don't you "miss" the monarchies?  Well, you should!), Jehanne leaves her armor in the cathedral to return home.  Who's the girl at the end of the short movie?!  Anyone's guess, of course, but it's likely Jehanne herself; she went home to Domremy to see Mom & Dad and possibly resumed, if only for a brief time, dressing in her traditional skirts.

She would, of course, return to her armor, which was alluded to earlier in the game, only to end her short life of 19 years chained to a concrete stake in a beautiful white dress.  The English, determined to consign her to a painful death via "the flames" but lacking a knowledge of modern-day physics, ended-up consigning her to suffer a near-painless death due to carbon monoxide poisoning.  In the eyes of the Catholic Church, she died as a virgin and not a martyr, but her life and death touched many thousands of individuals then and many millions of individuals now.

Enjoy the credits, which you can access again from the main title screen.  Note that Jehanne is now pictured with her true "butch cut," which was an absolutely necessary hairdo for a woman who was fighting on a medieval battlefield in addition to wearing "male garments," as mid-calf skirts were just "not practical" to wear in armor or while welding a lance.  

Be sure to replay those special "save files" to see the neat animation of the battering ram (just move it up to the giant wall of La Charite-sur-Loire) and the trebuchet (fire explosive arrows at it) being destroyed, as well as hearing Charles when he gets into trouble (he'll say two separate lines; also, watch him get knocked off his horse in z-mode), a dialogue which we did NOT want to hear during the regular game-play.  Also, load the "Blast" file which you created at the start of Mission 2, buy all the explosive arrows that you can, and destroy the west gate of Orleans (the other three gates are for "display only") and run out the western end of Orleans!  Finally, fight Sirs John & William again with the "Gate" file, if you wish.

Most importantly, click "New Campaign" to play again!

Appendix A -- The various binary files.

The 'joan.exe' files come in several flavors:

1)  01/19/2004  05:31 PM         6,672,428 joan.exe -- No CD required
2)  01/19/2004  06:02 PM         6,418,432 joan.exe -- CD required
3)  05/18/2006  10:51 AM         6,750,208 joan.exe -- CD required
4)  05/07/2004  12:02 PM         4,677,632 joan.exe -- No CD required

File #1 is from the Gamer's Gate (at http://www.gamersgate.com/, and now, Steam!) download site, which is your best choice; file #2 is from the shrink-wrapped box that I bought many years ago; file #3 was sent to me by the outsourced Enlight customer support due to problems that I was having running the game under Windows Vista (it would not read the CD drive); and file #4 is the result of a "CD hack," which allowed me to play a game that I had paid for without having to have the CD in the drive every time.  As you can see, file #4 is quite "suspicious" being much smaller in size than the others.  Still, I played this binary for two years without any issues whatsoever.  I doubt that it is any type of "malware, spyware, etc," but what happened to all of those "missing bytes"!  As I said, your "best bet" is file #1, and I am glad that I "paid twice" for the same game.  Note that if you install from Gamer's Gate site, the VSetting program will NOT work; for that, you'll need the original game CD.  You can copy the Gamer's Gate binary over the Enlight binary off their CD, that way, you don't have to use the CD every time you play while still using the VSetting program, but you'll have to (as I did) "pay twice."  The original CD is probably only available on eBay.  Here are the steps:

1)  Download the game from Gamer's Gate and install.

2)  Copy (do not move) the joan.exe file to a safe location (say, your "Documents" folder.)

3)  Uninstall the Gamer's Gate "Joan of Arc" game completely.

4)  Install the Enlight "Joan of Arc" from the CD.

5)  Rename the joan.exe file in Enlight/Joan of Arc to joan.old

6)  Move the joan.exe file from your "Documents" folder to the Enlight/Joan of Arc subdirectory.

7)  The VSetting program should now work, and you will no longer need the CD in the drive to play.

The game will run on all versions of Windows, except for Windows 95 & NT.

Appendix B -- Fixing the game's errors (as much as is possible).

You will need to edit the following files.  ***BACKUP BEFORE*** doing this!!!  Here are the subdirectories of where to find the files:

If you've installed the Gamer's Gate version, look here:

C:\Program Files\Wars and Warriors - Joan of Arc

If you've installed the CD version, look here:

C:\Program Files\Enlight\Joan of Arc

(Of course, with a Windows 64-bit OS, you'll need to look in the Program Files (x86) folder.)

1)  'lahire_sword_lv2.txt' in the C:\Program Files\Enlight\Joan of Arc\item_des directory.

Original: Easily penetrates tough armor. Made with a 25 lb forged iron cylijnder attached to a riveted iron handle.

Changed:  Easily penetrates tough armor. Made with a 25 lb forged iron cylinder attached to a riveted iron handle.

2)  'rapidcbow.txt' in the C:\Program Files\Enlight\Joan of Arc\item_des directory.

Original:  This is the fastest-firing crossbow known thorugh the early 15th century.

Changed:  This is the fastest-firing crossbow known through the early 15th century.

3)  't_interf.txr' in the C:\Program Files\Enlight\Joan of Arc\Resource directory.

Original:  142|VICTS|1|You have successfully reached Orléans and delivered the Duke's letter to the dauphin Charles VII!

Changed:  142|VICTS|1|You have successfully reached Orléans and delivered Duke Alencon's letter to the Duke of Orléans!

Charles was NOT in Orleans at this time!

4)  'S6L1_obj.obj' in the C:\Program Files\Enlight\Joan of Arc\script\scenario directory.

Original:  Meanwhile, Joan of Arc could finally concentrate on her mission, as instructed by her "higher powers" - that of crowning Charles VII as rightful heir to the French throne, in Reims. Joan also knew that the English after their most recent defeat, were now in no position to put up a strong fight, despite the support of their Burgundian allies and the hired hands of the mercenaries. Their supply lines were now disrupted by the increasingly successful French attacks along the Loire. At last the road to Charles VII's coronation had been paved.

Changed:  Meanwhile, Joan of Arc could finally concentrate on her mission, as instructed by her higher powers - that of crowning Charles VII as rightful heir to the French throne, in Reims. Joan also knew that the English after their most recent defeat, were now in no position to put up a strong fight, despite the support of their Burgundian allies and the hired hands of the mercenaries. Their supply lines were now disrupted by the increasingly successful French attacks along the Loire. At last the road to Charles VII's coronation had been paved.

The game is biased here.  Jehanne claimed more than "voices in her head"; in fact, she, in her encounters with angels, claimed to have experienced four out of the five senses (seeing, hearing, touching, and smelling), and, implicitly, the fifth (she kissed the angels' feet) also.  She also claimed that the angels saw, heard, and spoke to her.  To top it off, she also had a "supporting witness" at her Trial of Rehabilitation who also claimed to have seen the angels while in her presence.  You decide for yourself, especially in light of the other miracles of the Catholic faith.

5)  'S7L1_tactic.sce' in the C:\Program Files\Enlight\Joan of Arc\script\scenario directory.

Original:  WAIT{ DIALOG("add_dialog", orleans_recno, "[0042N]Those English bastards've been making payments to the mercenaries with gold forged from the toil and sweat of our people!We must put an end to their incessant looting and recover the gold taken from our people and return it to its rightful owners!") }

Changed:  WAIT{ DIALOG("add_dialog", orleans_recno, "[0042N]Those English bastards've been making payments to the mercenaries with gold forged from the toil & sweat of our people! We must put an end to their incessant looting & recover the gold taken from our people & return it to its rightful owners!") }

Format change.  Note the sentence runon.

6)  'S7L1_tacticEX.res' in the C:\Program Files\Enlight\Joan of Arc\script\scenario directory.

Original:  Those English bastards've been making payments to the mercenaries with gold forged from the toil and sweat of our people!We must put an end to their incessant looting and recover the gold taken from our people and return it to its rightful owners!

Changed:  Those English bastards've been making payments to the mercenaries with gold forged from the toil & sweat of our people! We must put an end to their incessant looting & recover the gold taken from our people & return it to its rightful owners!

7)  'S9L1_tactic.sce' in the C:\Program Files\Enlight\Joan of Arc\script\scenario directory.

Original:  FUNC("set_end_condition_finish", 31, "LOSE")
    
Changed:  //                    FUNC("set_end_condition_finish", 31, "LOSE")

You need to comment-out this section of the script code, otherwise, the game will flag a completed objective as being a failed one.  (Visiting the house with the traitor.)

8)  'scenario7.res' in the C:\Program Files\Enlight\Joan of Arc\map\scenario7 directory.

Original:

CreateUnit
{
    scene_name:scene_sector_42;
    UnitName:Nicolas Sueur;
    UnitShortName:Unit 116;

Changed:

CreateUnit
{
    scene_name:scene_sector_42;
    UnitName:Nicolas Sueur;
    UnitShortName:Sueur   ;

You ***MUST*** edit the above with a HEX editor only, such as XVI32:

http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/freeware/xvi32/xvi32.htm

9)  'item.res' in the C:\Program Files\Enlight\Joan of Arc\item directory.

Using XVI32, perform a search on 'Deduces' and change the 'D' to a 'R'; you'll have four changes, one for each of your main commanders' high-grade armor.

Do ***NOT*** delete any characters; instead, substitute ASCII values and then null characters (X'00') for the remainder of the field.

Do NOT try "modding" the game; it's "tightly coupled" and will likely crash.  Note that some of the script files, such as S5L1_tactic2.sce, that come with the game are deprecated and are never read by the game engine.  You can, if you wish, make the following changes to 'S5L1_tactic2.sce':

Original:  FUNC("attention_call_message_2", "We cannot enter easily, but teh enemy garrison is within reach of our range troops!", "La Hire")
           FUNC("attention_call_message_2", "Yes - the enemy will be unable to replenish their forces, and out fellows to the south will have an easier time breaching Meung!", "Jean de Metz")

Changed:  FUNC("attention_call_message_2", "We cannot enter easily, but the enemy garrison is within reach of our range troops!", "La Hire")
          FUNC("attention_call_message_2", "Yes - the enemy will be unable to replenish their forces, and our fellows to the south will have an easier time breaching Meung!", "Jean de Metz")

You will never see the above dialogue, and given the game's "tight coupling," the above scenarios are likely not even playable without the original source code to the game, which you would need to modify and then recompile.

Clearly, this was a game that was "in flux" right up until production!

Appendix C -- RAM Disk

The game runs better using a RAM Disk, provided, of course, that your system has enough memory.  To get the best results, I would recommend using Windows 7 64-bit with at least 8 GB of main memory.  I have gotten good results using the free SoftPerfect RAM Disk:

http://www.softperfect.com/products/ramdisk/

Install the game directly to the RAM Disk, or install it to the "Program Files (x86)" folder.  If you do the latter, you'll need to copy all of the files to your RAM Disk and then update the registry, changing the path "Program Files (x86)\Enlight\Joan of Arc" to the corresponding directory on your RAM Disk.  Just perform a registry search to identify each entity and update accordingly.

Razer Game Booster also offers a noticeable improvement:

http://www.razerzone.com/gamebooster

I would recommend not using both a RAM Disk and the Razer software at the same time.

No issues running this game on Windows 10.

Appendix D -- Further Reading

Check out "Joan of Arc:  Her Story":

http://books.google.com/books/about/Joan_of_Arc.html?id=rwNkZ6j0MawC

For Jehanne's Catholic beliefs, the Catechism of Saint Thomas Aquinas would be the definitive source:

http://www.cin.org/users/james/ebooks/master/aquinas/aindex.htm

(I am, of course, not claiming that the Thomas' catechism or the Roman Catechism are fundamentally different than the present Catechism, but if you read both "side-by-side," the former is quite a bit more "direct" in its teachings.)

Appendix E -- Versions

1.0  Initial release -- April 23, 2012
1.1  Some strategy changes on Mission 2 and elsewhere, lots of typos, grammar, names, places, wrong directions, etc. fixed -- May 12, 2012
1.2  Typos, grammar, additional commentary, minor strategy updates, compass directions, etc. -- October 20, 2014
1.25 Just more endless typos, plus some minor edits & strategy changes -- December 31, 2015
1.30 Minor strategy changes, edits, typos, etc. -- June 26, 2016
1.31 Endless typos and very minor fixes -- December 30, 2016
1.32 More typos & suggestions -- June 30, 2017
1.33 A few typos, some very minor suggestions -- December 31, 2017
1.34 Ditto (thanks Android!) -- June 30, 2018
1.35 A minor strategy update for Mission 8, plus (as always) some typos & other minor corrections -- June 30, 2022

Appendix F -- Copyright

Absolutely none -- distribute as you wish!  (It would be nice of you to include my name, though!)