How to play
The short version
Boats land, your squads meet them, and every house still standing at the end pays coin. Spend the coin on your commanders, sail on before the fog arrives, and try not to bury anyone you need.
If you are new, play the tutorial from New Campaign. It takes about five minutes.
Controls
These are the defaults. You can rebind them in Settings.
| Action | Key |
|---|---|
| Select a squad | Left click, or 1–4 |
| Next squad | E |
| Move | Right click on the ground |
| Move and set facing | Hold the right button and drag |
| Class skill | Q, then click to aim |
| Item | F |
| Flee | T |
| Turn the camera | A / D |
| Pan the camera | W / S, or the arrow keys |
| Zoom | Mouse wheel |
| Slow the battle (hold) | Space |
| Double speed (toggle) | Tab |
| Pause | Esc |
Holding Space is worth learning early. It gives you time to look around and choose before you act.
How a battle works
- Boats come from the sea. You can see where they are heading before they land. Use those seconds to get a squad in the way.
- Squads hold their post and never chase. Enemy archers landing out of reach will not be dealt with until you send someone after them.
- Facing matters. Shields only work towards the front, so drag your orders to turn a line towards the enemy.
- Houses refill squads. The Replenish button walks a squad to the nearest standing house to take on new men. It needs a house still standing, and a squad that has lost its commander gets no new men.
- Fleeing needs a boat. A squad can only escape in an empty raider boat at the shore, and the boat has to be big enough to seat it. A Fearless commander's squad never flees.
- Edges kill. A man shoved over the edge falls into the sea. This goes for you and for them.
- Enemies burn houses. A burning house pays nothing, so a squad near the houses is often worth more than one on the beach.
Your classes
A commander without a class leads Militia. Spend coin on the upgrade screen to pick a class, and the class skill comes with it. Skills have three levels.
| Class | Weapon | Good at | Skill |
|---|---|---|---|
| Militia | Basic | Filling a gap until promoted | None |
| Infantry | Sword and shield | Holding a line; blocks arrows from the front | Plunge: leap down onto the enemy from above |
| Pikeman | Long spear | Reaching past the front rank and shoving hard | Charge: a running blow that scatters a rank |
| Archer | Bow | Range, which grows with height; weak up close | Volley: every archer looses at once |
High ground helps twice: archers shoot further from it, and infantry can plunge from it. Look at the shape of each island before you place anyone.
Items
Items are found on islands. Most can be upgraded on the upgrade screen.
| Item | What it does | Used |
|---|---|---|
| War Horn | Calls fresh men from the nearest house to the squad | In battle |
| Bomb | Thrown by the commander; bursts where it lands. Hurts your own men too | In battle |
| Mines | Laid near the squad and armed a moment later; go off when the first enemy steps in. Hurts your own men too | In battle |
| Warhammer | Strikes, stuns and throws nearby enemies. Never runs out, it only needs time to recover | In battle |
| Ring of Command | More men in the squad, not stronger ones | Worn |
| Philosopher's Stone | More coin from battles won with its commander alive | Worn |
| Kykeon | Its commander may go ashore twice in one turn | Worn |
| Holy Chalice | Brings a fallen commander back once | From the inventory, on the campaign map |
Traits
Each commander's traits are dealt at random for the run.
| Trait | Effect |
|---|---|
| Sharp Weapons | Harder blows and arrows |
| Heavy Weapons | Blows throw the enemy further and stun them briefly |
| Fleet of Foot | The squad moves faster |
| Ironskin | Every man takes less damage |
| Sure-Footed | The squad is shoved less, so it is harder to push off the edge |
| Energetic | Shorter waits on the class skill, warhammer, bombs and mines |
| Popular | One more man in the squad |
| Collector | Item upgrades are cheaper |
| Skillful | Class skill upgrades are cheaper |
| Heavy Load | One more use of bombs, mines and the war horn each battle |
| Rousing Speech | A house refills the squad faster |
| Mountain | The commander alone is tougher, hits harder and is hard to shove; the men do not change |
| Fearless | The squad can never flee the island |
Know your enemy
New enemies arrive region by region. The Codex lists each one once you have met it.
| Enemy | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Raider | The basic attacker. Quick to kill, dangerous in numbers |
| Raider Archer | Shoots from range; send someone after them |
| Shieldman | No arrow gets through its front. Break it as it winds up a blow, or from behind |
| Thureophoros | Throws a javelin before closing |
| Brute | Slow, but one blow kills any man in the line. Meet it with a pike line, never a lone man |
| Gastraphetes | Few and slow. Its bolt goes through several men and can shove them into the sea. Use a house or a rise as cover |
| Sarissa Man | The enemy's pikeman: a front-line fighter that halts to meet a squad in its way |
| Galatian | The fastest enemy. Leaps your braced lines at the sound of the carnyx |
The regions
The campaign runs east to west through 8 regions, and each has one rule of its own.
| Region | What is different |
|---|---|
| Kilikia | Small, fast boats strike with little warning |
| Pamphylia | Siege ships shoot from offshore before the marines land |
| Pisidia | They come over land, across the sand and out of the hills |
| Lykia | Archer boats loose arrows before they reach the shore |
| Karia | Storms hide their sails, and a pike line meets your charge |
| Ionia | A swarm lands on every shore at once |
| Lydia | Galatians leap your lines at the sound of the carnyx |
| The Aegean | The last fleet comes by night |
The campaign map
- Roads: holding an island opens the roads that lead on from it. A lost island stays shut.
- Turns: commanders go ashore, and a commander who has fought is spent for that turn. Some need to rest for longer, so keep more than one squad ready. Up to 4 can fight in one battle.
- Fog: an island left in the fog can no longer be reached. The map warns you when ending a turn would lose one.
- Rewards: the map shows what each island pays. Small, medium and large houses pay 1, 2 and 3 coin if they are still standing. Some islands also hold an item or a new commander.
- Fallen commanders stay fallen, unless you have the Holy Chalice. Their promotions go with them.
Difficulty
| Level | What changes |
|---|---|
| Easy | Fewer, plainer raiders; houses refill fast |
| Normal | The campaign as it is meant |
| Hard | Bigger waves sooner, better classes, faster fog, slow refill |
| Very Hard | Crushing waves, the best classes early, fog in pursuit. Opens when a run on Hard is won |
Tips for your first run
- Give your first coin to a class before anything else. A skill comes with it.
- Stand on high ground wherever you can.
- Hold Space whenever several boats land at once.
- Replenish between waves, before a squad is nearly gone.
- Keep bombs and mines away from your own men.
- Do not spend your best commander on an island that pays little.