Combat Siege, played and written up

Combat Siege keeps the medieval strategy loop and throws out most of the ceremony. You grow a stronghold, you build siege equipment, and you go and break something belonging to a player who did the same.

What makes it work is the pace. Marches are short enough that a plan made at the start of an evening resolves inside it, which is rare in this genre and the main reason it earned a slot here over its heavier rivals.

The alliance layer is where it opens up: coordinated sieges are a different game from solo raiding, and the step up is worth taking as soon as somebody will have you.

The parts worth the noise

• Base defence
• Siege planning
• Alliance strategy

Who this is for

Players who want medieval strategy without a month of setup, and anybody who likes the siege half of these games more than the farming half.

If you want deep economy management, this is deliberately shallow there.

How to start without wasting a week

Join an alliance in the first session. Solo play here is survivable but joyless, and most alliances will take a new player who asks.

Keep one siege engine in reserve. The counter-attack after a successful raid is where new strongholds usually fall.