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Arrghh! You severely try my patience! I will remove you yet!
— The Snake, after a failed attack
Snake1

Duc Beauregard (more commonly known as "The Snake") is an antagonist in the Stronghold series, and one of the AI opponents in Stronghold Crusader.

Overview[]

The Snake is a greedy and mischievous character, who uses diplomacy and deceit to deceive his adversaries into favorable agreements for himself. As much as he loves gold, he prefers to employ the least demanding armies to exert his control, which makes him vulnerable to a prepared enemy.

Information[]

Duc Beauregard is a regal looking gent, who is relatively tall and of slight build. He is the most elegant of your opponents (perhaps along with Saladin) as well as the best dressed, making him the complete opposite of The Pig. His chiseled face is accentuated by a head of slicked back black hair, which thins to a point at the front. Only the grey flecks above his ears and the few grey hairs in his short, well-groomed black beard betray his age.

As well as wearing tight, figure-hugging clothes, which highlight his slim physique, he also decorates himself with a smattering of lightweight jewelry. Unlike the Rat, Pig and Wolf, but in keeping with his own troops, he does not wear armor. This due to the fact that of his lavish riches, he always adorns himself with the finest of clothing, which is not really suitable in fighting, which explains his aggressive yet cheap use of units, which is ironic considering his lavish sense of money. This he shows off by occasionally flaunting a bag of gold to his opponents.

Wolf in sheep's clothing[]

The Snake is a subordinate of the usurper Duc Volpe and a landlord of several counties formerly employed by the King. His greedy attitude and extortions led to fights with the Boy's father, who took out one of his eyes in a duel. This induced hatred in Beauregard against him and the Boy's whole family, eventually trapping the soldier and sealing his fate by Volpe killing him with a sword. He is also an advisor of the Rat, to whom he provides military and economic assistance in return for slicing a huge part of his profits.

The Rat's distress[]

The Rat contacts the Snake and requires his support after a rebellion sparks and starts contesting his influence. Beauregard tries to ignore the problem at first, calling the Rat for a hunt and even supplying him vague advice, however de Puce's inability to resolve the situation eventually makes him send military aid. As his forces are repelled and the Rat loses counties, Beauregard chooses to back out from his comrade.

A take on appeasement[]

The Snake contacts the rebels and proposes an agreement that he supplies them with footmen in exchange for ale. As he fulfills his end of the deal, suddenly he lays claim on one of the Rat's counties and betrays the rebels. Sir Longarm immediately ups the speed and the rebels manage to kill the Rat, then start taking away counties from the Snake, further increasing their power.

Downfall[]

Beauregard desperately calls for a truce when he is whittled down to his final county, however his words are ignored. Helpless and vulnerable, the Wolf and the Pig marches to his aid to relieve him. Although the Pig leads attacks, eventually the Boy manages to rise and kill the Snake in his own castle.

In the first game, the Snake is a character that cannot be trusted, turning against his former ally, the Rat and before the events of Stronghold, tricking the player's father to his death. He also, while running a province under employ of the king, under-declared some of the taxes to maximize his own profits. The Snake, however, is not cruel to his own people, as the Sheriff, with a similar personality, is. This is perhaps because his troops are weak enough as it is, and eroding their morale would make them even worse fighters. Despite his lack of cruelty, however, the Snake is less than chivalrous to opposing lords with his mocking style of taunting, drawing his sword in front of his neck in the process.

It is unknown how the Snake behaves towards his allies as there is no speech, just one of his soldiers relaying messages; however, he appears to be quite helpful to them as he is very willing to send lots of spearmen if a moat needs dug and will usually (if he is not under pressure himself) come to their aid when requested. He will also quite often enthusiastically attack an enemy when requested, and will send small raiding groups to help out in his allies' sieges even when not requested to do so.

Finally, he is obsessed with the letter 'S', not only creating his castles in this shape but also having it as the centerpiece for his elaborate purple banner, which he proudly displays behind his throne.

The Snake constructs his castles in a swirly shape, resembling a serpent or a clover leaf. His keep is bordered by a combination of narrow walls and a moat, which encloses his buildings. Perimeter turrets are placed at regular intervals, which are filled with archers. Gatehouses also have a small guard of archers and slingers. The keep is also heavily defended with units, since attack forces are assembled there.

The Snake runs a modest economy focused on military. He builds 2 quarries along with woodcutters and supplies his peasants with numerous apple orchards. He builds many fletchers and poleturners, and he also buys in spears and bows in large batches. He also provides a small variety of food by constantly buying in cheese. The Snake takes taxes from his peasants.

The Snake uses fast and relatively cheap units in droves, unleashing quick armies after one another. His mixture of the cheapest Arabian and European units gives him a devastating variety of troops, backed by groups of archers that make any units into pincushions.

Duc Beauregard's attacks feature laddermen and a single catapult reinforced by Arabian bowmen that can take some unprepared enemies with surprise. He uses archers as his main force, and he sends slaves and slingers to terrorize production lines.

The Snake can be a troublesome opponent to fend off early on, due to the fact that his armies can be assembled fast consisting cheap troops, who tend to run in loose formations, distracting your defenders. He also attacks rather fast, necessitating quick defensive measures, such as sealing off the castle early and placing ranged defenders in towers.

Several crossbowmen, each one of which being able to kill one of the Snake's units in one shot as well as being better armoured), are therefore useful alongside your archers. To counter his slave raids, a few groups of archers are useful scattered throughout your industry and farm buildings.

When it comes to a siege, the Snake's castles feature towers are small, but are usually packed to full capacity with archers. For this particular reason, the siege should be started by destroying his towers from afar with catapults or trebuchets, also giving an available access route into the castle, without the bother of trying to dig up the moat. Try getting the Snake's campfire under fire control in order to stop him from reinforcing his troops.

Action Quote Sound
Added to roster Heheheheheh!
Removed from roster Heh...
Taunt 1 Ah, yes. It's time to die!
Taunt 2 Still alive? Well, not for much longer.
Taunt 3 Can you hear it, hm? That's your death, drawing near.
Taunt 4 Ah, the little hero. Well, I may have a surprise for you.
Deflects player's attack Oh dear. You seem to have lost, never mind! Why don't you... try again?
Player's buildings are destroyed It's over my friend, let's face it. You've lost!
Close to victory Am I victorious? Oh, yes, I am! Heheheheheh!
Defeats player Lost again, have we? Maybe you are not up to the job, hm?
Player deflects attack Arrghh! You severely try my patience! I will remove you yet!
Player destroys buildings Who are YOU to challenge me and my right to rule these lands?
Player closes with an army Ah, time to leave.
Panicking Oh, I, I, I think, I might just...
Defeated Oh, spare me! I wanted only to be your ally, really I did.

Trivia[]

  • In Stronghold Crusader, the Snake employs his personal servant to deliver messages to his allies.
  • The Snake has two flawed castle designs (snake2.aiv and snake6.aiv) that feature no gatehouse, effectively locking the Snake inside his own castle.
  • While the Caliph is infamous for his slave usage, the Snake uses them for random raids just as much.
  • Duc Beauregard is a reference to one of The Dukes of Hazard's protagonists, Beauregard "Bo" Duke.
Stronghold Crusader / Stronghold Crusader Extreme Characters
Stronghold Crusader The RatThe SnakeThe PigThe WolfThe SultanThe CaliphSaladinRichard The Lionheart
Stronghold Crusader Extreme Emperor FrederickKing PhillipThe SheriffThe AbbotThe MarshalThe WazirThe EmirThe Nizar
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