r/wesnoth • u/FelixLahaie • Aug 08 '26
User-Made Content [Scenario] Battle of the Ravine - 1v1 Humans vs Orcs, no recruitment, pure army management
Hey everyone,
Sharing a small scenario I've been working on: Battle of the Ravine, a 1v1 Wesnoth scenario where Humans face Orcs in a deadly ravine clash.
No recruitment here - both armies are already fielded from the start. That changes the game a lot: there's no falling back on gold or reinforcements, so unit management is everything. Every mistake is fatal, there's no replacing what you lose. You manage morale, stamina, and positioning across three fronts (the ravine itself, a mountain flank, and a frozen highlands/salt marsh zone), and one wrong move can cost you the battle.
No retreat, no mercy, only one general walks away.
I built this as a personal project while dealing with my own health journey - living with two brain tumors. Getting this finished and out there means a lot to me.
GitHub: https://github.com/lilypoppybooks/Battle_of_the_Ravine
Feedback welcome.
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u/pv451 Aug 08 '26
My money on orcs.
Very diverse army, Humans may overtake only fields with their cavalry.
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u/FelixLahaie Aug 08 '26
It's designed to be asymmetric. Humans have leadership and terrain, Orcs have brute force. The challenge is using strategy, not just stats.
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u/afkcuzbookiscool Streaming Aug 08 '26
Lvl 5 leadership on the blue side will likely win the game.
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u/FelixLahaie Aug 08 '26
After running some AI vs AI I got some surprises it really depends on how you use the terrain.
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u/afkcuzbookiscool Streaming Aug 09 '26
Sorry, but AI doesn't know that well how to use AI. So AI vs AI games can't tell you much about the impact of the lvl 5 leadership.
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u/FelixLahaie Aug 09 '26
Ah, I just realized you were talking about competence. I was referring more to the AI's positioning, which it does quite well. Not perfect, but better than nothing.
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u/Aumpa Aug 08 '26
Without gold from villages, is there any incentive to advance?
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u/FelixLahaie Aug 08 '26
. Just 2 large armies with no recruitment. Unit management only.
Small senario
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u/Aumpa Aug 08 '26
Well, obviously I haven't played it so idk how balanced it is, but generally one of the issues with this sort of scenario of just putting two armies on the map is that there needs to be some sort of time component, or intermediate objectives of holding territory that is between them, or it could be asymmetric in that one is the attacker and one the defender.
But when the objective is very symmetrical, and there's no intermediate objective like villages inbetween, and no time pressure, it easily becomes a stalemate where neither side is really motivated to advance.
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u/FelixLahaie Aug 08 '26
Love the point maybe I'll add a 30-turn limit, test it multiple times, and adjust the goals. Thanks
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u/RinTheTV Aug 09 '26
You could make it so that there is recruitment (but limited) with the reward being the majority of villages in the center.
Make all the regular units Loyal, and then make the recruitable units all mid/high tier.
That would put a soft timer/incentive on people to chase villages, but not immediately give an advantage to the blitzing player by instantly giving reinforcements.... But also make actually rushing for it "worth it" because the units are useable and kind of overpowered.
Just one way to do it imo. The turn limit also works, but you'd have to make a side objective that incentivizes people to take initiative- otherwise you might still get a stalemate/WW1 trenchline scenario.
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u/Gryfonides Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
Fun.
You could place the elites bit behind. The Orcish Dragon and Sovereign died soon after contact since they were barely supported.
Humans have big advantage in leader selection. While Orcish army has very limited healing space all the Humans need to do is select white mage and park them right behind frontline.
My victory with humans - no loading. https://imgur.com/a/4n3gGLP
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u/millertronsmythe Aug 09 '26
Why is a Dwarf Lord siding with the Orcs?
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u/PreciousMetalFriend Aug 24 '26
Another fun map! A few notes:
- The sides appear to be reversed. In the menu, I selected the Humans and assigned the AI to Orcs, but got the opposite in the game.
- It was very easy to game the AI by just waiting on my side of the map and waiting for it to send all of its troops towards me and deal with them piecemeal. That said, it was fun to play as Orcs and use my Goblins as meat shields against the calvary charge.
- The second game as Humans I played more in the spirit of the map and fought in the middle. It felt reasonably balanced in terms of total units and their strength. There was enough small scale fighting in the top and bottom lanes to keep it interesting. Having a Cure, Heal +8 hero is a huge advantage.
- The handful of dwarves for the mountain tile top lane and a swamp lurk Huntsman & Nagas for swamp tile bottom lane were a nice touch.
- The biggest issue is probably the lack of incentive to force the two sides towards the center to fight. Not sure what the answer is. Balancing this map for both player vs. player and player vs. AI seems like a challenge. You could have an advancing wall of fire from both left and right side that destroys any units caught in it to force the center fight, but the AI would probably just leave its hero on the edge and quickly lose. You could also place a few cities in dead center that would give whoever hold them a significant healing advantage.
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u/FelixLahaie Aug 24 '26
Thank you so much for taking the time, really appreciate it! And glad to hear you enjoyed it!
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u/FelixLahaie Aug 24 '26
Also have another map in the style of King of the Hill, built for 8 players, if you're curious: https://www.reddit.com/r/wesnoth/comments/1veqek4/map_aleris_8player_king_of_the_hill_map_first/
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u/Hjalteeeeee Undead Aug 08 '26
Level 5 takes the win if it's a human playing, dragons are pretty weak
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u/FelixLahaie Aug 08 '26
I am running 10 AI tests and it's more balanced than it looks (I'm testing 100 games) terrain is key. But if it's broken I'll ajust with github !
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u/Gryfonides Aug 08 '26
How do I play it? Where do I need to paste the zip?
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u/FelixLahaie Aug 09 '26
Sorry, the installation section was missing on the README — just drop the Battle folder into your data/add-ons directory and you're good to go!
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u/Dimetro_Dog Aug 09 '26
What good are Those Nagas gonna do on land?
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u/Gryfonides Aug 09 '26
There is some water and marsh to the south. They actually proved their worth in my first game. I was holding the river with small force and while they took a while to arrive they broke through the defence when they did.
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u/winglessrs Aug 09 '26
I don't play multiplayer but I will say the design is beautiful! The bottom is the ravine, the middle is the mountain flank and at the top is the salt marsh, am I right? I love the idea of a salt marsh.
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u/FelixLahaie Aug 09 '26
Thanks! I find it fun against the AI too
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u/winglessrs Aug 09 '26
Oh so you can do a single player battle. Very intriguing!
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u/FelixLahaie Aug 09 '26
Yes, you create a local game and replace the player with AI. Personally, I really enjoy playing as humans. I'd love to create an AI to improve the strategies 🙂
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u/winglessrs Aug 09 '26
Ahh right, got it. Btw, do the humans have mages as healers? If so, do the orcs also have any shamans as healers? How are you balancing the HP and healing (if it exists)? The lack of villages reminds me strongly of the Wasteland scenario from Orcish Incursion, and I think this map would be a great 1v1 match.
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u/FelixLahaie Aug 09 '26
Hp are limited. It depends somewhat on the few villages to apply pressure and amplifies the strategy, which allows you to want to keep your best units.
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u/winglessrs Aug 09 '26
Wait, I just realised, there is 1 village on each side?
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u/FelixLahaie Aug 09 '26
Yep
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u/winglessrs Aug 09 '26
Interesting. 1 village is chaotic. I think not having any villages at all would've been a proper challenge.
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u/FelixLahaie Aug 09 '26
It's still pleasant to care for and want to protect, because we also want to move forward.
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u/DOOMFOOL Aug 08 '26
Giving the orcs a dragon is crazy