Warhammer – Shadow of the Horned Rat (walkthrough)
Warhammer - Shadow of the Horned Ratsubmitted by jeansy (jrl@yebo.co.za)
This guide to Warhammer: Shadow Of The Horned Rat is split into two
sections.
First there's a short list of general hints and tips for playing the game
and then there's a brief discussion of the different opponents you'll face.The art of war
Although the different missions you must complete vary widely, there are
some things that you should always bear in mind throughout the game...Managing your forces
The first and most important rule is to save your game after every
successful mission. It's easy to win 'Pyrrhic victories' in Shadow Of
The Horned Rat, where you may complete a mission but lose so many troops
that it becomes very hard to succeed in the next. It's also vital that you
manage your forces efficiently and spend as little money as possible, so even
if you win a battle hands down, it might be worth going back and trying it with
fewer regiments.Likewise, remember to check your troops roster after every battle and hire
any replacement troops that may be available. It's vital to keep your regiments
as near to maximum capacity as possible if you're going to succeed.Remember that you can take only 13 regiments into a battle, but those that
you don't use still have to be paid. Although the amounts are small, they
quickly add up. If you find that you're just not using a regiment, fire it.
The savings will be worth it.Don't underestimate the importance of experience. A fully experienced (6,000
points or more) regiment is a killing machine in comparison to its starting
statistics, and units like this are vital later in the game. For this
reason, try to use the same regiments as much as possible, and don't 'rotate
duty' unless you have to. It's better to have a few experienced units than an
army full of ones with a few hundred points each.Battles
Although time is frozen during the deployment phase at the beginning of a
battle, the Winds of Magic are still active. If you're going to be starting
in a position where you can use spells within the first minute of the battle,
it's worth waiting for a lot of magic points to appear before starting the
mission.Learn to judge the range of the different spells and missile weapons that
you have available. Each is different, and it's worth taking the time to
get a feel for how far you can fire. In particular, there's nothing more
annoying than trying to cast a spell and finding that you're out of range -
the magic points used are wasted.Don't end a mission just because the 'mission complete' message appears.
Often there will still be routing troops on the map, and they still count
as kills for experience. Likewise, many missions have magic items hidden on
the battlefield, and now's the time to search for them.
What you're looking for is a sparkling point of white on the ground, which
appears about once every 30 seconds or so. Remember to look behind things
using the rotate buttons, and search the battlefield carefully.Tactics
In order to succeed in Warhammer: Shadow Of The Horned Rat, you have to be
able to win battles at minimal cost to your forces. The first thing to
remember here is that the enemy will nearly always attack you - even when in a
defensible position, the computer will send its forces to attack yours.
Don't be in too much of a hurry to send yours out to meet them.
Instead, take the opportunity to riddle the enemy with arrows and spells. By
keeping your melee troops in place, you can often significantly weaken the
enemy at no cost to yourself.
There are battles where this tendency of the computer to keep coming at you
can be even more helpful, such as in the dragon's lair under Zufbar (see the
Escort Engrol Goldentongue mission, below).Likewise, close combat is dangerous because your troops can be killed. Your
aim should always be to finish fights as quickly as possible, and the best way
to do this is to force the enemy unit to rout. A routing unit is virtually
defenceless, and can be hacked to pieces easily by your pursuing regiment.
To force a rout, you need to do as much damage as possible as quickly as you
can, and this is where charging is important. A charging unit hits first and gets
a strength bonus, meaning that their hits will be more likely to cause wounds.
Always do everything you can to ensure that your regiments charge the enemy,
and not the other way around.A good way to use this to your advantage is to charge the enemy with an
infantry unit while manoeuvring a cavalry unit to the enemy's side or rear, and
charging it again. The combined bonuses will almost certainly ensure that you do
more damage than your opponent, and even a tenacious regiment can be forced to
rout in this manner.Don't underestimate the usefulness of magic. Always try to use every
available magic point in every magic cycle, and experiment with different tactics.
Likewise, don't forget to use your sword's fireball attack once per cycle - you
can even do this while in melee combat.Know thine enemy
In Shadow Of The Horned Rat your army will face a variety of foes, some more
dangerous than others. The three most common races that you'll have to deal
with, though, are Goblins, Orcs, and Skaven. In the discussions below, the
races are compared to an average human soldier, such as a member of the
Grudgebringer Infantry.Goblins
These are the weakest of the enemy races, and shouldn't present much of a
threat. Their low weapon skill makes them easy to hit in hand-to-hand combat,
and their low initiative means your troops will get their strikes in first.
Combined with their lack of armour, this makes it a simple job to hack them to
pieces. Best of all, Goblins have universally low leadership scores, making them
easy to rout. Even Goblin Wolf riders aren't too much of a threat, and rank as the
weakest cavalry unit in the game. Watch out for Goblin Archers, though, which can
present something of a nuisance - charge them down as soon as possible.Fanatics
These are the only really nasty Goblins. Fanatics 'hide' inside regiments of
Night Goblins, only revealing themselves when one of your regiments comes close.
Then they leap forward, swinging huge ball-and-chain weapons that scythe
through any unit in their path. Under no circumstances should you try to
engage a Fanatic in close combat - they'll just rip your regiment apart.
Instead, draw them out by moving a mounted regiment past them. Fanatics move
randomly once they've revealed themselves, and most of the time they'll
either spin themselves off the map (maybe even killing a few enemies in the
process), or be killed by their own weapon. Pick off any persistent ones with missile
fire or magic.Orcs
The traditional bad guys for any fantasy world, Orcs are bred for warfare,
and pose a lot more threat than their Goblin cousins. Your only real advantage
is their low initiative, which means that your troops will at least get their hits
in first. The average Orc is tougher than a human, though, making them harder to kill,
and their fair leadership scores make them difficult to rout. Finally, they tend
to have better armour than Goblins. Combined with their sheer numbers this can make
even normal Orc regiments dangerous.
The real threat, though, comes from Black Orcs and Big 'Uns. Black Orcs have
better weapon skills, ar stronger, and have better leadership scores than
humans.
So they're more likely to hit, more likely to inflict damage, and are more
likely to rout your forces than to run away themselves. Except for their average
leadership, Big 'Uns share these advantages - but they have higher initiative than
normal Orcs, so you lose the advantage of striking first. If at all possible, avoid
getting your infantry units into melee with either of these types of Orc, and use
your stronger Cavalry units instead. If you can't avoid it, try to