Empire aflame DLC - am I to bad ?

[Bee1976]

Hello,

first my english isnt as good as it should be, but i hope it is good enough to describe my problems with that dlc.

I really enjoy playing FG II. I finished the base campaign on the 3rd hardest difficulty = veteran. And im not unexperienced in games of that kind, i.e. i finished pc2 and both dlc on generalissmo. But i have big troubles with empire aflame campaign.

There are 2 Missions i cant handle. 1st is that mission where you fight the master. I keep loosing a lot of units. they simply overhwhelm me. but on my second playthrough attempt i was able to save the important ones and saved upgrades for the time after it.
but the second mission is "saving marcra". i reduced the difficulty to the lowest possible level, a lot of my units wear that craftable artifact, but again i simply get overwhelmed. i tried some other army combinations, but well....nothing i tried worked.

my latest attempt was using 2 flying units to destry portals fast, but there spawn way to much enemy units, harpies on top = game over. even with that artifact it seems some of my units arent doing "real" damage :/

i restarted the map about 20 times, always with an altered approach....no chance to win, even on "easy". so i think there are 2 solutions:
1. im just to bad for this
2. im doing something essential wrong with my approaches to the mission or in my army

army composition in my last attempt:
moira
szzlag
3x Firearchers
3x pegasyriders
1x nightmare beast rider (that scythe dudes...)
1x siye
1x golem

i would be thankful for any advice

[Bee1976]

ok, embarassing

the first try after this thread i did it....-.-

but maybe my solution is helpful for others, so here is my successful approach:

i switched 2 flying horse riders and 1 archer out and used the free supply for acolythes (just to sacrifice them to the enemy (for 12 mana each)....wasteful play but effective)) and more scythe dudes...
and summons, tons of summons from Moira.

But this mission seems still a little to hard for easy difficulty.

[OBG_primetide]

Saving Marcra has also been modfied to make it easier - it is the one of the hardest missions admittedly

[stavros27]

Having the same problem...this is impossible because even if you retreat to a more defensible position, Marcra does not follow and dies!

[Link21002]

All you need to do is hold the walls. If you have Siye and Other Flyers, use them for closing portals as the AI only spawns Melee units after the first wave.

Place all your best melee units on the left wall, Szzlag is excellent for this role.

Place you best ranged unit on the tower. And all others behind the melee units at the wall.

Skeleton Archers are very useful on this mission, as are siege engines.
Scorpions are great for Shadow Beasts and Taurus Catapults shred the fodder.

After you've wiped out all of the enemy flyers and ranged units; you can afford to send some of your ground units on portal duty. I usually start with the Eastern side and work around clockwise.

Also, buy all the available mercenaries. On my most recent playthrough I got a second Red Dragon as a mercenary. Additional fodder never hurts.