Warden of Aldmere

Warden of Aldmere is a fantasy conquest strategy game in pixel art, played in the browser. You begin as the Warden of Hearthvale, a small human realm on the shore of the Mere, with three companies and twenty crowns. Twelve years later you are either High King of Aldmere or a name in someone else's chronicle.

Every year is one turn on a living map of sixteen realms, with caravans on the roads, longships on the Mere, herds and wolves in the wilds and a drake circling the Ember Crater. Raise companies of spears and archers, later riders and knights, and march your host into a neighbouring realm. Each ruler has a temper. The proud want courtesy and a Warden of rank, the greedy want a good bargain, the brutes respect only a bigger army, and the cunning want a Warden with honour and the people behind him. Pick the right words and the realm becomes your vassal or ally without a blow. Pick the wrong ones and the talk ends in war.

Battles are fought in real time on one of three fields: an open plain, a river ford or a mountain pass. Choose a formation and a tactic, then pause whenever you like to give orders to the companies inside the reach of your banner. Flanks and rears hurt, spears holding still stop a charge, and a company that loses too many men or sees its commander fall will break and run. If you would rather not lead, let the captains fight and see the result at once.

Every realm has a town of its own, from the timber halls of Hearthvale to the reed huts of Blackfen and the domes of Sunreach. In the towns you hold, hear true rumours and hire a veteran company at the tavern, invest at the market, raise and refill companies at the barracks, give alms at the temple and build longships at the harbour. In every tower lives a mage with likes and dislikes. Talk of what they love, bring gifts and do the deeds they admire, and at favour 60 the mage swears a pact: a harvest blessing, a ward of courage before battle, a veil of mist that leads the raiders astray, wildfire on the enemy or a silver tongue for the next talks.

Holding a realm is its own task. Set the tribute low, fair or harsh, hold festivals where morale sinks and keep a host near the borders, because raiders from the steppe, the snows and the islands come every year from the third on. When the people call for a tourney, ride the Tourney Gallop yourself for favour and a purse: three laps against three knights, spurring on the straights and easing off before each turn, with a lance for the rider beside you. Rising in rank opens more hosts, longships for the islands of Saltmere and Drakehold, and talks with the great realms. Win the favour of the dragon queen at her court and her realm swears to you.

You are crowned High King when you hold thirteen of the fifteen other realms with the favour of the people at 60 and your honour at 50. The score adds 60 per realm, 50 per rank, the favour, half your treasury, 10 per battle won and a crown bonus that grows the earlier you are crowned. The campaign saves itself after every year, so you can stop and continue later.