Age II: The Conquerors - The Huns Showcase

By Elliott Chin, GameSpotPosted May 31, 2000 9:15 pm PT

We relaunch our biweekly Age of Empires II civilization showcase with a look at the Huns, one of the five new civilizations in this add-on.

The Huns Showcase

The Conquerors are coming. Age II, one of the most successful strategy games of last year, is getting an expansion pack called the Conquerors, and it introduces new terrain, new technologies and units, new campaigns, and new civilizations. As the great balance and breadth of civilizations in Age II was the best feature of the original game, the new cultures are really the selling point for the expansion. Last year, we ran a 13 episode showcase of the civilizations of Age of Empires II here at GameSpot, and now we are resuming that civilization showcase as we take a look at the five new civilizations in The Conquerors. Kicking off the showcase are the Huns, that famous tribe of ravenous barbarians who helped topple the Roman Empire.

Although the Huns historically did not last past the 5th century, they were a major force that led to the Dark Ages of Europe. Indeed, the timeline in The Conquerors remains the same as that in Age II, which is roughly from the 5th century to the 15th century, give or take a hundred years. So the Huns exist in the very beginning of the game's timeline. As an organized civilization, the Huns existed thanks to unifying efforts of that most famous of Huns, Attila.

The Huns share much in common with another famous tribe of conquerors featured in Age of Empires II and who also united two continents to create the largest empire in human history: the Mongols. Like these central-Asian tribes, the Huns hailed from the regions surrounding Mongolia. In the third century, these horsemen - adept at mounted warfare with bow and spear - crossed the Asian steppes westward. Although it is arguable whether this migration was intended initially as a means of conquest, the Huns nevertheless ended up displacing all the peoples in their path, driving them westward, eventually leading to mass immigrations into Constantinople and the Eastern Roman Empire. The Western Roman Empire also felt the undue weight of these overwhelming numbers of people who were fleeing the encroachment of the Huns.

Of the incredible mounted prowess of the Huns, the designers at Ensemble have this to say:

"The Huns were superb horsemen, trained from childhood, and some believe they invented the stirrup, critical for increasing the fighting power of a mounted man charging with a couched lance. They inspired terror in enemies due to the speed at which they could move, changing ponies several times a day to maintain their advance. A second advantage was their recurved composite bow, far superior to anything used in the West. Standing in their stirrups, they could fire forward, to the sides, and to the rear. Their tactics featured surprise, lightning attacks, and the ensuing terror. They were an army of light cavalry and their political structure required a strong leader to hold them to a purpose."

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jakeboudville
Posted Sep 8, 2006 3:58 am PT

kinda impressive
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