Rush · Varangian Guards — Macedonian Dynasty AoE4
Sheep, 2 miners, Hippodrome (0:00–4:03)
Start the age-up at 2:22 with 13 villagers (6 on food, 3 on wood, 4 builders on the Imperial Hippodrome) to reach it at 4:03 with 18 villagers.
- 0:00 — The 6 villagers on sheep; one of them builds the Varangian Warcamp. Rally on gold until 2 miners.
- 1:00 — Rally on food until the age-up, up to 11 villagers on food.
- 2:22 — Age up with the Imperial Hippodrome: 4 food villagers build it, after a House. Rally on wood; 1 food villager and the 2 miners move to wood.
Varangian Strongholds and Varangian Guards (4:03)
Pressure with 3 or 4 Hippodrome Horsemen, then chain Early Varangian Guards from 3 Varangian Strongholds; mark at 9:50: 17 Early Varangian Guards and 4 Horsemen.
- 4:03 — The Imperial Hippodrome is done: the 4 builders go back to food (after a House). Produce Hippodrome Horsemen up to 3 or 4 to put pressure on.
- 4:30 — 5 wood villagers to the deer; one of them builds a Varangian Stronghold for defense.
- 5:10 — 2 wood villagers to gold.
- 5:30 — A second Varangian Stronghold.
- 5:50 — 3 food villagers to gold, and a House. Survival Techniques once the gold allows it.
- 6:20 — A Varangian Arsenal near the gold, then non-stop Early Varangian Guards.
- 7:20 — At 200 wood, 5 wood villagers to gold. A third Varangian Stronghold; Butted Chainmail, then Pattern Welding.
- 8:10 — 5 wood villagers to the berries, with a Mill.
- 9:00 — Keep researching infantry upgrades while the Early Varangian Guards come out.
- 9:50 — The author’s mark: 17 Early Varangian Guards and 4 Hippodrome Horsemen. Research Siege Engineering if a Cheirosiphon push is needed.
Tips
- Designed to punish double Town Center openings: a little cavalry to hold the map, then an infantry push.
- Three Varangian Strongholds feed the Early Varangian Guards: the first at 4:30, the second at 5:30, the third at 7:20.
- The 4:30 Varangian Stronghold goes up while 5 villagers move to the deer: it is there for defense, before the Early Varangian Guards.
- The “Hywan assault” variant (Birteet): same steps and same times, tagged as a rush on AoE4 Guides.
- The Cheirosiphon push only matters if the army has to break buildings: plan Siege Engineering for that moment.
Source: AoE4 Guides