''Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs'' is the first expansion pack for the

real-time strategy game Real-time strategy (RTS) is a subgenre of strategy video games that does not progress incrementally in turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time." By contrast, in turn-based strategy (TBS) games, players take turns to pl ...

Age of Empires III ''Age of Empires III'' is a real-time strategy video game developed by Microsoft Corporation's Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The Mac version was ported over and developed and published by Destineer's MacSoft. The ...

''. It was released on October 17, 2006 in the United States. The expansion pack was bundled with the full game of ''Age of Empires III'', called ''Age of Empires III Gold Edition'' on October 23, 2007. The Mac version was ported over, developed and published by

Destineer Destineer, Inc. was an American umbrella company covering a holding company, a video game publisher, and video game developer based in Minnetonka, Minnesota. The company was founded by Peter Tamte, former executive vice-president of Bungie, in ...

MacSoft MacSoft was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1993 by Peter Tamte as a subsidiary of WizardWorks, specializing in the production of video game ports from Microsoft Windows to Macintosh operating systems, as well as prod ...

. The full game for Mac was released on June 12, 2007 in the United States. It was followed by a second expansion pack to the original game called '' Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties''.

Gameplay changes

There are no major changes to the mechanics to ''Age of Empires III'' – players are still expected to gather resources, build armies and send them to attack opponents. Instead, there are a number of new concepts introduced, whilst existing concepts have been expanded. While the

Aztec The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the Post-Classic stage, post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central ...

s have a home city, the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

and

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin ( ; Dakota/ Lakota: ) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations people from the Great Plains of North America. The Sioux have two major linguistic divisions: the Dakota and Lakota peoples (translati ...

have five members of the Tribal Council: the Chief, the War Leader, the Shaman, the Wise Woman, and the Messenger. They all offer different units, supports, and improvements. The tribal council is present in the game when a native civilization advances in age (replacing the politician system of the European civilizations); the player can select to promote a candidate to the Tribal Council and this confers a bonus on the player. The candidates offer higher bonuses at later ages. Typically the type of bonus remains the same (extra units, bonus resources) and new candidates become available at higher home city levels. Other additions to the game include new minor native tribes: the expansion increases the original game's 12 tribes to 16. The

Huron Huron may refer to: Native American ethnography * Huron people, who have been called Wyandotte, Wyandot, Wendat and Quendat * Huron language, an Iroquoian language * Huron-Wendat Nation, or Huron-Wendat First Nation, or Nation Huronne-Wendat * N ...

replaced the Iroquois, the

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. The Cheyenne comprise two Native American tribes, the Só'taeo'o or Só'taétaneo'o (more commonly spelled as Suhtai or Sutaio) and the (also spelled Tsitsistas, The term for th ...

replaced the Lakota (Sioux) and the Zapotec replaced the Aztec. Other new tribes include the

Klamath Klamath may refer to: Ethnic groups *Klamath people, a Native American people of California and Oregon **Klamath Tribes, a federally recognized group of tribes in Oregon *Klamath language, spoken by the Klamath people Places in the United States * ...

, the

Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

, the

Navajo The Navajo or Diné are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (1 ...

and the

Mapuche The Mapuche ( , ) also known as Araucanians are a group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging e ...

. A Fire Pit is available to all Native civilizations. By tasking villagers to dance at the Pit, a range of up to ten dances per civilization are available. The dances can be learned through Home City shipments are The Town Dance which improves building HP and attack, and the Water Dance which improves naval combat. The Iroquois have the unique Founder Dance, which spawns new Travois, and the Earth Mother Dance, which increases maximum population. The Sioux have the Fire Dance, which increases unit damage to buildings and ships to mitigate their lack of siege weapons, and the War Song Dance, which produces free Dog Soldier cavalry. The Aztecs have the Healing Dance (all idle units automatically regenerate health) to compensate for the limit on Warrior Priests, and the Garland War Dance to spawn the free Skull Knights. Additionally, each Native Civilization has its share of unique technologies. There is one unique technology per building except for the Sioux teepee, and the technologies' effects range from delivering shipments of resources or units to upgrading unit capabilities.

Revolutions

European colonies have a new option open to them in the Industrial age; instead of advancing to the Imperial age, they can revolt from the home nation and establish their own country. The initial cost of revolting is cheaper than advancing to the Imperial age, but the nation's economy will stagnate because all settlers will turn into

militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

and no new ones can be built (except Coureur des Bois from a Cree Village). Resources can continue to be delivered from pre-constructed ships, tributed resources, trading posts, factories and for the Dutch, banks. A new nation may not upgrade units to the Imperial Age.

Stealth

Another new feature is the use of stealth. This enables certain units to remain undetected by most enemy units and buildings. All native civilizations have a unit that can use stealth (this cannot be activated when enemy units are nearby). For the Europeans, there are spies that can be sent from the home city or recruited from the church. Spies are particularly effective against explorers and war chiefs due to their bonus attack. They all share the stealth ability, as do other miscellaneous units (ninja, native scouts, etc.). When certain enemy soldiers are near the invisible unit, the unit will be revealed and vulnerable to attack. Stealth units also become visible when they attack.

Plot

The campaign, which is 15 missions long, includes the Black family in a more historical setting. The first act, ''Fire'', follows Nathaniel Black (John Black's son and Amelia Black's father) as he spends the family's entire fortune supporting the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

. The second act, ''Shadow'', follows Amelia Black's son, Chayton Black, and his actions in the Black Hills during

Red Cloud's War Red Cloud's War (also referred to as the Bozeman War or the Powder River War) was an armed conflict between an alliance of the Lakota people, Lakota, Cheyenne, Northern Cheyenne, and Northern Arapaho peoples against the United States and the Crow ...

(1866–1868) and the

Great Sioux War The Great Sioux War of 1876, also known as the Black Hills War, was a series of battles and negotiations that occurred in 1876 and 1877 in an alliance of Lakota people, Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne against the United States. The cause of t ...

(1876–1877). The home city for both acts is the Black Family Estate.

Act 1: Fire

Nathaniel Black (loosely based on

Joseph Louis Cook Louis Cook, or Akiatonharónkwen (died October 1814) ( Mohawk), was an Iroquois leader and commissioned officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Born to an African father and an Abenaki mother in what is now Schuylerville ...

) is the half-Iroquois son of the late John Black from Act 2 in the previous game, raised by his mother Nonahkee and his uncle Kanyenke (Ká:nien in ''Definitive Edition''). The campaign opens as Nathaniel and Kanyenke are trying to discourage the

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans *Mohawk people (Kanien’kehá:ka), an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language (Kanien’kéha), the language spoken by the Mohawk people *Mohawk hairstyle, from a ...

and the

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People, fictional characters and language * Seneca (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname : :* Seneca the Elder (c. 54 BC – c. AD 39), a Roman rhetorician, writer and father ...

from

fighting Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict between multiple combatants with the intent to harm the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is resorted to either as a method of ...

in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. However, they are ambushed by a group of Mohawks and head to an

Oneida Oneida may refer to: Native American/First Nations * Oneida people, a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy * Oneida language * Oneida Indian Nation, based in New York * Oneida N ...

village nearby. From there they counter-attack and destroy an enemy Town Center, thus causing their enemies to flee. When Nathaniel and Kanyenke return to their village, they find that the Mohawk and a group of

Hessian A Hessian is an inhabitant of the German state of Hesse. Hessian may also refer to: Named from the toponym *Hessian (soldier), eighteenth-century German regiments in service with the British Empire **Hessian (boot), a style of boot **Hessian f ...

mercenaries led by Colonel Sven Kuechler have raided the village and captured Nonahkee. They rescue Nonahkee, but Kuechler and his main army escape, leaving the

Iroquois Confederacy The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

to dissolve. Nathaniel's village supports the colonists, and Nathaniel heads to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

where his men help defend a redoubt on

Breed's Hill The Bunker Hill Monument is a monument erected at the site of the Battle of Bunker Hill in Boston, Massachusetts, which was among the first major battles between the United Colonies and the British Empire in the American Revolutionary War. The ...

from the British. After

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

takes command, a series of defeats drives the colonials back across the Delaware, where they are joined by Nathaniel. Washington leads a small force, including Nathaniel, across the Delaware, where they attack a Hessian encampment at Trenton and defeat the rearguard of the army at

Princeton Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...

. This is followed by another victory at the

Battles of Saratoga The Battles of Saratoga (September 19 and October 7, 1777) were two battles between the American Continental Army and the British Army fought near Saratoga, New York, concluding the Saratoga campaign in the American Revolutionary War. The seco ...

. However, the army is once again defeated at Brandywine and Germantown and is forced to camp for the winter at

Valley Forge Valley Forge was the winter encampment of the Continental Army, under the command of George Washington, during the American Revolutionary War. The Valley Forge encampment lasted six months, from December 19, 1777, to June 19, 1778. It was the t ...

, where they suffer greatly from the cold. This leads Nathaniel to use most of his family's fortune to supply the army throughout the winter. The next scenario is the fictional battle of Morristown, where Nathaniel has his chance for revenge on Kuechler, who leads an attempt to destroy the capitol building of Morristown. Using artillery shipments he receives from Washington, Nathaniel sneaks around the Hessian flank and relieves Morristown. Refusing to accept defeat, Kuechler joins the fight with Nathaniel and is killed. After Kuechler's death, Nathaniel is said to have fought at Charleston, Camden, and

King's Mountain Kings Mountain is a small suburban city within the Charlotte metropolitan area in Cleveland and Gaston counties, North Carolina, United States. Most of the city is in Cleveland County, with a small eastern portion in Gaston County. The popul ...

. As the tide begins to turn, the French join the war and help the revolutionaries gain a victory at Yorktown, where Nathaniel is instrumental in capturing several redoubts. With the Revolution won, Nathaniel returns home a poor man, having spent his family fortune on the war effort, but is memorialized as a hero after his death in 1812. During the epilogue video of the campaign, the "Old Coot" (secretly Morgan Black) from Acts 1 and 3 in the original campaign can be seen watching his great-grandson's victory at Yorktown.

Act 2: Shadow

In 1866, Chayton Black, Amelia Black's half-

Lakota Lakota may refer to: *Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language Lakota ( ), also referred to as Lakhota, Teton or Teton Sioux, is a Siouan languages, Siouan language spoken by the Lakota people of ...

son whose father died when he was too young to remember, is expanding the Falcon Railroad Company westward along the

Bozeman Trail The Bozeman Trail was an overland route in the Western United States, connecting the gold rush territory of southern Montana to the Oregon Trail in eastern Wyoming. Its important period was from 1863 to 1868. While the major part of the route us ...

but winds up in the middle of

. He helps defend the wood trail from the

and becomes friends with

Fort Laramie Fort Laramie (; founded as Fort William and known for a while as Fort John) was a significant 19th-century trading post, diplomatic site, and military installation located at the confluence of the Laramie and the North Platte Rivers. They joi ...

's quartermaster, William "Billy" Holme, an aged

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

veteran. Ten years later, in 1876, Chayton returns to the west and again meets up with Holme, now a sheriff, who informs him of a gold rush in the

Black Hills The Black Hills is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black Elk Peak, which rises to , is the range's highest summit. The name of the range ...

of Dakota. After defending many mining camps from Sioux attacks, Chayton goes to see the Sioux chief

Crazy Horse Crazy Horse ( , ; – September 5, 1877) was a Lakota people, Lakota war leader of the Oglala band. He took up arms against the United States federal government to fight against encroachment by White Americans, White American settlers on Nativ ...

and establish a peace treaty. However, Holme and some of the miners ambush the Sioux before Chayton can begin negotiations, wrecking any chance of peace. Despite the sheriff's warmongering, Chayton still sides with Holme and defends his workers as they gather wood for a new fort. However, once the fort is complete, Holme orders Chayton to destroy a Sioux village without provocation. Chayton refuses and, turning against Holme, allies with the Sioux to destroy the fort, forcing Holme to flee into the hills. Chayton then convinces the newly arrived

George Armstrong Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point ...

to give him one day to find Holme, who is the real cause of the unrest. Chayton puts on Sioux clothing and blood-red war paint and, joining with Crazy Horse, chases down Holme and corners him in a mine. Holme pulls a gun on Chayton, who draws his gun more quickly and shoots Holme, sending him stumbling into some gunpowder kegs and falling down a mineshaft to his explosive death. Chayton then tries convincing General Custer not to attack the Sioux, but Custer refuses and demands that Chayton choose sides, saying he can no longer remain neutral. Chayton agrees, bidding Custer goodbye and siding with the Sioux. He helps gather the Sioux and Cheyenne nations and fights with them at Little Bighorn. After the battle, Amelia Black narrates that she never saw her son again, but she has heard that Chayton was either killed at Wounded Knee in 1890, taking a dozen cavalrymen with him, or lived out his days in the Black Hills with his wife and children. In '' Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition'', ''Shadow'' is significantly revised, with Chayton and Holme having fought alongside each other in the Civil War. Chayton has stronger convictions about his Sioux ancestry, his Lakota uncle "Frank" Warbonnet replaces both Amelia and Crazy Horse's roles, Holme is more openly discriminatory towards the Natives, and all Native enemies are replaced with outlaws. In the end, Chayton tells Frank that he plans to leave behind both his tribe and the Falcon Company, implying that he is disappearing to go on a journey. While some reviewers such as ''Windows Centrals Samuel Tolbert praised these changes for resulting in "a more personal, fitting story".

Other versions

''The WarChiefs'' expansion pack was bundled with ''Age of Empires III Complete Collection'', featuring the full game of ''Age of Empires III'', ''The WarChiefs'', and the second released expansion ''

The Asian Dynasties ''Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties'' is the second expansion pack for the real-time strategy video game ''Age of Empires III'' developed through a collaboration between Ensemble Studios and Big Huge Games, and published by Microsoft Game S ...

'', released on September 15, 2009, in the United States. ''Age of Empires III'', ''The WarChiefs'' and ''The Asian Dynasties'' have been ported to Mac OS X by

Reception

''The WarChiefs'' was a runner-up for ''

Computer Games Magazine ''Computer Games Magazine'' was a monthly computer and console gaming print magazine, founded in October 1988 as the United Kingdom publication ''Games International''. During its history, it was known variously as ''Strategy Plus'' (October 1 ...

''s 2006 "Expansion of the Year" award, which ultimately went to '' Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Dark Crusade''. During the

10th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards The ''10th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards'' was the 10th edition of the Interactive Achievement Awards, an annual awards event that honored the best games in the video game industry during 2006. The awards were arranged by the Academy of ...

, ''The WarChiefs'' received a nomination for "Computer Game of the Year", which was ultimately awarded to '' The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion''.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Age of Empires 3 The WarChiefs 2006 video games Age of Discovery video games 3.1 Cultural depictions of George Armstrong Custer Cultural depictions of George Washington Cultural depictions of Crazy Horse Cultural depictions of José de San Martín Fiction set in 1866 Fiction set in 1876 Games for Windows MacOS games MacSoft games Multiplayer and single-player video games Multiplayer online games Real-time strategy video games Robot Entertainment games Video game expansion packs Video game sequels Video games about the American Revolution Video games developed in the United States Video games set in the 1860s Video games set in the 1870s Video games set in the United States Windows games