Robert the Bruce: Battle of Bannockburn (1 & 2)

The longer the roads leading to Stirling Castle are open, the more enemy troops rush out. The key is to use Yelu Dashi's active to seal one of two flanks, force our way to the other, and open another path to the southern road.
I gave him Roland's weapon at lvl 7 and a green gem with +3% dmg reduction. You'd do well to give him the lvl 3 anti-cav stakes War Gear. Then, switch to the lvl 3 flag wagon looking War Gear to recover his morale which prevents his speed from getting impacted due to a state of low morale.


I used Alexios I to the north, then Yelu Dashi, fixed Robert, and Nevsky, I believe.
When the English charge your position, there will be a gap between the 2-3 vanguard legions and the legion sitting on the target. Defeat one legion to your top or bottom, and open a path for Yelu Dashi. I think he took the top path.

To the East, Belisarius takes up the north, then Baldwin IV, El Cid, and Narses. My idea was to use Petain's rotations to swap gens in and attack the legion on the target. Then, I will send the fourth unit in to take it. This failed.
However, after I knocked out the reinforced garrison, a normal legion occupied it. I simply gave it the boot and took the target.

Lastly, prepare your healthiest troops on the western side two hexes from the southern horse's border. Yelu Dashi is behind them. As expected, open a path and let Yelu Dashi enter.

There we go, an easy victory. To guarantee a win without War Drums, remember to upgrade your troops.

The key is to hold 3 targets by the sealed roads leading to Stirling Castle.
The enemy vanguard are three normal units followed by the first wave of mixed reinforced and normal legions. This is led by Edward II whose defeat means nothing. A third wave will appear once the gen in the yellow halo is defeated, I think. These are troops with additional mobility. The fourth wave is probably triggered by defeating enough enemies. They will appear past the fjord, to the north and south of it, by the area where the map shrinks. We will get two legions as reinforcements by the hexes diagonal to the northern and southern targets. I got a single reinforced legion when my SE diagonal was occupied, and perhaps this is better.

The garrison of Stirling Castle will move in the next enemy turn after the enemy occupies any red halo.
We can destroy them by taking the halos back, setting up the blockades again.

My idea requires us to time things well such that we eliminate the garrison of Stirling Castle, and any stragglers in the way.

While interesting, the use of Yelu Dashi was ultimately rejected for the following reasons:

1. You need good positioning and coordination to pull this off. Serious firepower is a must in case Yelu Dashi cannot be swapped in in time.
2. There was a glitch. 3-4 legions were on the seal zone and until 1-2 were left, it refused to seal after capturing it.
3. Not all, if any, sealed enemies are permanently removed. Should the enemy retake the target, the undoing of the seal allowed sealed legions to act again.

Recommended tactics:
- Take out the gen with the halo. Bring up three green reinforcement halos.
- Withdraw to allow some enemy legions to pass and be destroyed while positioning gens onto the tiles where enemy reinforcements would show. Denying as many reinforcements as possible is better.
- Focus on safeguarding the targets and avoiding the diagonal hexes. The idea that there will be a reinforced unit if other units are denied is false. Only one legion will be reinforced and it shows in the south. Also, if these tiles are left open, all will allow reinforcements to enter.

I deployed in the north Alexios I and Subutai, as well as Eleanor of Aquitane and Nevsky. The target was occupied at the moment.
To the south, Alfred and Timur, as well as Cnut on the reinforced unit with Adil and Basil II.
In the centre, Belisarius, Antonina, and Narses.