We recommend you start with the first mission of the Stronghold campaign right after you finish the two tutorial maps. While you can do the campaigns in any order you choose, the 1st map of the Stronghold campaign is the most logical place to start, storywise.
Note that you can either choose the default hero, or, if the option is available, you can create your own custom hero by clicking on the plus icon beneath the main hero. This will open the Campaign Main Hero Editor. In there you can edit the following options:
Main Hero Name
Portrait
Specialization
Affinity (Might or Magic)
For this campaign, we recommend you create your own hero, using Might as the Affinity, and Orc Master as the Specialization. Orc Master will give your crushers and maulers +7 health. Since they are your core unit and their numbers will amass and so will the bonus, this can be a significant advantage to have in the battle.
Sandor: A score of us against a Duchy, are we insane?
Kraal: Not insane, Sandor. Just mad. Very mad.
Sandor: It's as I said before we left. I will free my sister, or die in the attempt. This is my war Kraal, not yours
Kraal: Kraal promised, Kraal will come. Besides, too many Angels in Eastalon now. Don't like angels, don't like how Angels look at Orcs.
Sandor: I'm glad, lucky in fact that you're here. You know these hills. So let's see who we can find who may have heard of Irina
Your first quest in this campaign will be:
Stealth, the Orc Way
Primary Quest - Active
Sandor has come to the Wolf Duchy with his Orc friends in hope to rescue his half-sister Irina, unjustly married to a brute - Duke Gerhart himself. Sandor must find clues to locate where Irina is held
Objectives:
Active Objective - Locate Irina
Rewards:
+15,000 Experience
Ring of Celerity
You also have the following secondary quests as you start:
Rampage
Secondary Quest -Active
Path of the blood: Orcs angry, Really angry. Wolf must pay. Is Sandor Orc enough for it? Or is he still a little babyteeth? Sandor should know: all odds are against Orcs. Better. Greater glory!
Objectives: Capture all the Haven cities
Rewards:
+2 Might Power
+100 Blood Reputation
+15000 Experience
The Choice
Secondary Quest - Active
The Dragon Gods favor those who choose their path. Will you follow the path of the Dragon Blood, or the Path of the Dragon Tears?
Active Objective - Reach the Tears or Blood class for your Hero
Reward: +2 Destiny
Start heading to the east. Since you are starting, you need all the resources you can get. Visit landmarks such as the Stone of Enlightenment for experience, or a Centaur Statue for +5 movement and +10% ranged damage.
We recommend the first skill you take is Enlightenment (which makes you get +25% experience whenever you get experience) and logistics (Which improves your movement points) from the Paragon Tree. For the third skill, we recommend Toughness 1, which will increase your units health and it goes well with your Orc Master specialization.
Even though you have a small army to begin with, don't be scared to fight the monsters protecting the various resources. At the beginning of the mission, these will be easy kills. You can right click on them to see that their threat level is low or trivial (in the green). For example, the darkness elementals guarding a treasure at the beginning, even though they are Neutral Elite Creatures, their threat level is low. There should be one or two of them which you should easily defeat with your maulers, probably without any casualties on your side. You should also run into some more maulers that you can recruit to your party.
There will be some Griffin below, with threat level trivial, which will most likely flee as you approach them. Decide whether to pursue or leave them.
They were guarding an artifact. I found a Crest of Valor, a pocket artifact that grants +2 leadership. But you could also find any other minor artifact such as a tarot deck granting +2 destiny.
There should be some more groups of Maulers to the south, so you should recruit them as well before going and fighting the Sentinels who are guarding a Crystal of Power. After visiting the Crystal, head Southeast towards the white and red obelisks, and defeat the Sentinels there.
Keep following the road. Kill the group of fire elementals to get the artifact they were guarding, and kill another group of sentinels that are protecting some treasure and resources, as well as the Gold Mine. With the orcs you recruited previously, your army should be big enough such that these enemies do not really pose any threat.
Visit the Mother Earth Shrine (Improves the Health of all creatures in Hero's army by 10% for next combat. can be visited once before a combat) and clear the enemies in front of the sawmill.
Note that any mines you capture will go back to Gerhart's control when you leave them! This is because he still controls the city in the area. Your priority now should be to capture the city to the south.
