Warhammer: Mark of Chaos - Empire Campaign - Chapter 1, Mission 6

Here are general tips for playing the Empire Campaign in Warhammer: Mark of Chaos on HARD Difficulty. A list of all our Warhammer: Mark of Chaos articles can be found here.
We won't be hand-holding you through absolutely everything, but instead just give tips on situations that we found tricky or that you might not have considered.

Chapter 1: The Call of War

Mission 6: Gotterung, Stronghold of Darkness

Overview

• Time is quite short but it's possible to win without taking the outer siege point. In any case, it seems that the outer siege point only adds a couple of minutes.
• You will need to get close to all items in the fortress courtyard to count as "found" and have the game automatically pick up when you win. Also, regiments that charge your cannon can drop items, so it actually helps if you don't win too quickly. We got a total of 5 items plus some gold.
• Infantry regiments can have a siege tower or a gunpowder barrel, but not both. A single gunpowder barrel will not destroy a section of wall.
• In the far northwest corner outside the fortress and from where the Marauder reinforcements march is a SteelThread Cloak (+1 Armour, +3 Magic Resistance) that is probably not worth the headache to get. You need a hero to pick it up. Sending a regiment there won't allow them to pick it up and you won't automatically get it when you win the mission.

Walkthrough

Method 1: Rush for Inner Siege Point

If you are really having a lot of trouble getting through this mission, just go for the quick win.
Get some swordsmen up the wall fast, and then rush down into the courtyard for the inner siege point. Turn on all defenses (Captain's Armour of Contempt skill, Swordsmen's Shield Parry) and capture the siege point for a quick win. You'll probably take horrible casualties on the Swordsmen and possibly miss grabbing the Armor of Retribution (dropped by the Chaos Knight regiment).

Method 2: Clear the wall, grab courtyard items, take Siege Point

• We managed to do this with just 11 losses, but it is very tough, for several reasons:
• If you don't micromanage your cannons, they can blast your own troops while targeting the enemy or taking down a wall section (collapsing a wall also kills all troops on that wall section).
• Sometimes regiments just get stuck and can't do anything or move very slowly and won't attack. It helps to have ranged attack regiments because they can kill some enemies and hopefully cause the traffic jam to clear.
• Sometimes regiments will walk down stairs to get to the nearest enemy they spotted somewhere, so you might need to micromanage their targeting, especially melee.
• Bring into the mission 1 regiment of swordsmen fully upgraded, and four handgunner regiments.
• Leave two handgunner regiments to support the defenders at the cannons. They can mostly go on automatic targeting except when the knights come, whereupon you will probably want to Volley Fire the enemy.
• Attach Captain Von Kessel to the swordsmen. Leave the Bright Wizard unattached.
• Send the Bright Wizard ahead alone.
• Yes, alone. Not even armoured -- prioritize the Captain for armour rating.
• A single model is pretty hard to hit with a cannon, and even if it were hit, a hero can survive a couple of shots.
• Rush the Wizard to the corner of the fortress so you can keep the Hellcannon there sighted for your own cannons.
• A few seconds after you get the Wizard running and drawing cannon fire, send up the swordsmen and the two regiments of handgunners. The swordsmen should take the lead so they will draw axe thrower fire first. At the base of the wall, turn on all defenses on the swordsmen and head up. Attach the Bright Wizard to the nearest handgunners, then send the handgunners up the wall as well.
• Ideally the handgunners should have the Swordsmen in between them and any enemy melee regiments, so that they can keep up their shooting. If you are able, garrison them in a tower, but beware of enemy regiments trying to retake it.
• The enemy will pour out of the fortress but your assault force is now on the battlements, so they can only head to the cannons.
• If the HellCannon is destroyed, turn them on enemy regiments instead of the walls. Try to keep an eye on the cannon position to make sure your handgunners still cover it and the cannons haven't drifted too far ahead as you manually target them.
• Once you have cleared the battlements, the castle will probably be empty. If you have a few minutes left, turn your attention back to the cannons and their defence. Finish up any enemy regiments, then capture the inner siege point for the win. Items on the ground should be automatically grabbed when you win.