⚔ Glaive Legions

Castle sieges and defences

By Nishanthan Janarthanarajah · Updated 23 October 2026

15 of the 30 campaign battles are fought around a Japanese castle: a stone and plaster wall with four yagura towers, a gate and a keep. In a siege you attack the castle; in a defence you hold it against waves.

How castles work

• The wall line is made of seven pieces: four towers, two wall sections and the gate. Each piece has its own health and collapses into rubble when it breaks.
• Enemies can't walk through standing stone; your own soldiers pass through your gate.
• Towers hold up to 5 Archers or Bombers. Garrisoned troops shoot further and take half damage from arrows.
• The keep replaces the statue: bring it down to win a siege.

Siege tactics

1. Bring battering rams: they break a gate about 12× faster than soldiers. Escort them with Shields so arrows don't kill the crew.
2. Use catapults to knock out towers from outside their range, then advance.
3. Keep Archers back and fire at the tower garrisons while the rams work.
4. When the gate falls, send Cavalry and Elite through the breach at the keep.

Defence tactics

1. Fill all four towers with Archers first; add Bombers on the towers nearest the gate.
2. Kill the enemy rams before they reach the gate; they are slow but tough.
3. Hold the Vanguard and Shields just inside the gate, ready for a breach.
4. Use the breather between waves to refill towers.

The sieges

• Mountain Pass vs Lady Oyuki: A walled pass: archers on four towers, blades behind the gate.
• Castle Gate vs Daimyo Kurogane: A true castle. Rams for the gate, catapults for the towers.
• Harbour of Ghosts vs Admiral Shiro: Forty archers: twenty on the towers, twenty behind shields.
• Obsidian Keep vs Kurogane the Elder: Black walls and twice the elite guard.
• Throne of Glaives vs The Shogun: The Shogun's castle, all four champions and every tower manned.

The defences

• Night Raid vs Goro's Brothers: Bandits storm your new wall at night. Man the towers.
• The Snow Gate vs Oyuki's Avengers: Two battering rams come for your gate.
• Siege of the Lake Fort vs Fuyu's Rearguard: Three waves across the ice.
• Desert Outpost vs Akai's Riders: Cavalry, rams and a catapult.
• Bamboo Stockade vs Hana's Spear Clan: Catapults outrange your towers.
• Harbour Watch vs Shiro's Marines: Marines and rams out of the fog.
• Mountain Keep vs The Yama Host: Rams first, cavalry through the breach.
• Blood Moon Vigil vs Oni Mask's Horde: Wave after wave until dawn.
• Festival of Fire vs Kiku's Loyalists: Thirty elite behind four rams.
• The Last Stand vs The Shogun's Ghost Army: Four waves, two champions, every engine of war.

Siege questions

How do I break into a castle?

Battering rams smash gates and walls about 12 times faster than soldiers, and catapults throw stones over the wall at the towers. Once a gate or wall piece falls, pour through the breach.

How do I defend my castle?

Select Archers or Bombers and tap one of your four towers to garrison it (5 per tower). Tower archers shoot further and take half damage from arrows. Keep your Vanguard behind the gate.

What happens between waves?

In defence battles you get a short breather between waves to refill the towers and reposition. A countdown on the battlefield shows when the next wave attacks.

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