A tactics game of the Westmarch and the Ashen Host
How to play
Click one of your units to see where it can move, then click a blue tile. Choose Attack, Heal, Seize or Wait.
Hover an enemy while attacking to see the forecast: damage dealt and damage taken back.
Terrain matters: forests, hills, forts and castles add armour. Riders can't climb mountains; flyers cross anything.
Pikemen hit riders hard, archers bring down flyers, riders run down archers and mages, and magic cuts armour in half.
Campaign: heroes level up and are gone for good if they fall. If Aren falls, the chapter is lost.
Skirmish: capturing takes several turns. Villages, towns and cities pay more gold the bigger they are and take longer to capture; forts, castles and citadels recruit stronger troops the bigger they are. Moving off a site resets its capture, and wounded units capture slower. Take the enemy citadel to win.
Skirmish factions: Men earn more from settlements, Elves have deadly long-range archers but pay more, Dwarves are slow and heavily armoured, and Orcs are cheap, fragile and can muster beside their citadel.
Positioning: foot troops must stop when they step next to an enemy (riders and flyers slip past), so pikemen and Ironguard can hold a line. Each ally beside your target adds +1 damage, and striking a unit from behind (opposite the way it last moved) adds +2.
Skirmish armies cost upkeep every turn, and the number of troops you can field grows with the strongholds you hold. Regular troops that win a fight earn veteran ranks (+1 attack and armour each, up to three), so keep them alive.
Every class has a special rule, shown when you hover it: Swordsmen capture faster, braced Pikemen strike charging riders first, Archers aim better standing still, Knights charge, Ironguard shield their neighbours, Mages blast, Clerics bless, and flyers can hit and run.
Each people also has three units of its own, recruited where its tier allows. Elites (Paladin, Thornwalker, Bombard, Berserker) come only from a citadel, two at a time. Purple tiles are in range of an enemy Moonwatcher's overwatch.
Each skirmish army has a commander (crowned). Troops within 2 tiles get its people's aura, and every 3 turns it can use its power: Rally (Men), Volley (Elves), Hold Fast (Dwarves) or Bloodlust (Orcs). If it falls, its army is shaken for 3 turns.
Fog of war: you see a few tiles around your troops and holdings (further from hills and on horseback or wing). Units in forest are only seen from next door, and walking into a hidden enemy stops you in your tracks.
Right-click or Esc cancels. End Turn when you are done. Click a battle scene to speed it up, or turn scenes off with the Battles button.