Sir William

Sir William
Personal Information
Real Name	Sir William
Nicknames	Royal Champion
Appears on	Stronghold 2/deluxe
Strategical Information
Difficulty	Medium
Melee Troops	Spearmen Pikemen Swordsmen
Ranged Troops	Archers
Siege Engines	Catapults Ballistae Laddermen

Sir William is one of the main protagonists of Stronghold 2. He is fiercely loyal to his King and he has sworn to defend him at any costs.

Character

Sir William is a great lord with many estates and high rank, being the Royal Champion (this title is taken away by the King, who gives it to Steele later for his achievements). He serves The King and always fights on his side. William spends most of his time with searching for The King (after he fled from Lord Barclay) and managing his estates in peacetime.

Apperance

Sir William is a typical lord of the age with longish hair and a beard. He has a fair appearance to him and can easily be described as handsome. He wears a large griffin on the chest of his metal armor. He also wears a maroon colored cape, sometimes featuring a fleur-de-lis emblem.

Story in the Path of Peace

William is the countryside's most influential lord, holding the most estates nearby. He is mostly away on campaigns and thus, unable to manage his estates. Instead, the King charges Matthew Steele to clean up his estates of wolves and supply them with food, who completes these tasks. William is grateful for his efforts and hands him out most of his estates and sends a small army to assist Steele in his cause. Later, he also marries Lady Seren, but does not return to the island in the rest of the campaign.

Story in the Path of War

William is introduced as a "Noble Lord" while fleeing on horseback with Matthew Steele from Lord Barclay's territory. He tries to find the King of England, who hid from Lord Barclay's power. William gives Steele a small fort near a monastery, only to face Olaf Grimtooth and fend off two minor attacks, while he is out to hire some archers for a mission. Eventually Steele manages to join William's army and the both free a young warlord who was imprisoned, Edwin Blackfly, from William's former partner, Lady Seren.

After that, William is called to arms by a desperate Sir Grey, who is terrorized by The Bull. While the fight is fierce, the King reveals that he is alive by sending a letter, in which he tells Steele that William is framed as a traitor. He remains unaware of this, but Sir Edwin suddenly takes them to an unknown location, only to be imprisoned by Olaf. He is held captive and eventually attempted to be strung up by Olaf, who is heavily besieged by Steele's army. Steele can barely prevent him from suffocating, but Olaf manages to escape. Later, the King dismantles William from his rank of Royal Champion and gives the title for Matthew Steele, to reward him for their efforts.

Then William spends a long time recovering, but he always sends scouts to get information. He is healed completely by Olaf and Edwin is defeated, and when news come that Lord Barclay, his brother The Hawk and Lady Seren is on the way with a huge army, he gets even more determined to stand their ground. When the combined army arrives, Lady Seren visits William and Steele and tells them that she was working for them all the time. During the battle, Seren reveals her true colors and her turns against Barclay, but her little army stands no chance against the might of him and The Hawk.

In the blue path, William finally finds the King, who helps them against Lord Barclay. After the siege of the abbey, he decides to counterattack and bring down the Hawk. He manages to destroy a strategically placed bridge, but his humble wooden fort comes under siege by Sir Hugo Blanc, one of the Hawk's vassals. Steele eventually frees him and keeps him in safety when the three armies of Barclay's group comes to siege. When the armies are dealt with, the Hawk is brought down, but he and Steele gets trapped by Barclay's troops. Sir Grey arrives just in time to help them out, but he is shot dead by Barclay himself from his trusty crossbow.

William meets the King, who fools him and tells that he actually did not believe he would be a traitor. The two re-mended their bond of trust, and eventually, the King plans a final siege on Barclay's castle and charges William to command his own army. He makes breakthroughs, but does not manage to capture Barclay. After the battle, William is praised for his bravery and efforts.

In the green path, William is the second enemy of Steele, who is attacked in his own homelands. After Steele tries to make him join for their cause, he refuses and relentlessly attacks him with armies, but they are brought down one by one. In addition, he loses a strategic estate to Steele and even though Sir Grey comes to help him out and kills the Bull, Grey dies. William is besieged by Steele's army and he fights to his death until Steele orders his troops to execute him.

Castles and strategies

A view of William's castle.

William is a strong enemy in the Kingmaker mode. He runs a very productive economy, as well he has a considerable attacking force. His weakness is the castle defenses, but he has the ability to quickly bring reinforcements.

Economy

His economy is very efficient and masterful. All food types are produced, iron and stone is mined in high quantities and the weapons' workshops are built in large numbers (pikes are also produced to be sold). The Lord's kitchen serves pigs and vegetables and he gains a huge honor boost from the church.

Castle design

William often builds his castles very tight and stations small batches of archers on the walls and towers. Several swordsmen guard strategic spots and round towers with ballistae provide an overlook through the perimeter. Sections of moat can be found around the castle, but longer wall segments are left unguarded.

Defense

William uses a low variety of troops, utilizing only archers and swordsmen for both attack and defense. He uses several round towers mounted with ballistas which can be easily dispatched of. His west wing is heavily fortified with a massive amount of archers on the main gate and two round towers, but his east side is not as well defended and is bugged. 

Note: A bug can cause William to send a massive amount of his defenses into one of his controlled estates, making it far easier to overwhelm him.

Offense

William's productive economy means seemingly endless waves of attacks. His harassment groups consist of some archers and swordsmen, with the company of some catapults targeting both wall defenses and buildings.

The lord's siege forces are big. He brings hordes of spearmen, archers and swordsmen and from the siege camp various siege equipment's roll out: eight catapults, two cats and a ram. Laddermen are also hired in large numbers, and they stream continuously until the attack is over. Catapults roll close to the walls to maximize destruction, while cats try to protect them.

How to deal with

Defense

You should station several archers and crossbowmen in towers and along your walls. Place both ballistae and mangonels on your towers to send troops flying and destroy his siege camp. You may wish to have a task force of hobilars and/or macemen to demolish his siege equipment and rolling logs to assist you missile troops. Archers should make mincemeat of the attackers, and spearmen with crossbowmen will break open the armor of the 'tinmen'.

Offense

Sir William builds many troops, but his castle is wide open and weakly garrisoned. Attacking the side with the dual ballistae is your best choice to attack. Bring a fair number of horse archers and eliminate the defenders in the towers, while some laddermen try to set up their ladders against the walls. Then bring up some archers or crossbowmen to take the towers and snipe defenders on the ground and the walls. Once everything is clear, move in for the kill.

Note: William has a bugged castle design, where one of his round towers is rotated so that it is accessible from outside and it is possible to dominate his castle. There is an utility on this link that can be used to fix this problem. Alternatively, there is another bugged design where the east wing of his castle is wide open for units to swarm through.

Quotes

For the Kingmaker quotes of Sir William, see Sir William/Quotes

Trivia

• Sir William can be referred as a 'mascot' character for Stronghold 2, being featured on the disk cover, the loading screen and the title screen.
• William's crests and shields feature a large griffin, a trademark of his.
• Sir William is the brother of the Hawk, Pascal Deveraux. It is possible that he also carries the family name of Deveraux, yet does not use it.

Gallery

RUN FROM BARCLAY!