Conquest[edit]
To conquer England, you need to move your campaign army from your home to neighboring territories. You need to conquer all of the Norman castles in order to win the game.
When capturing an empty territory, there is a number of vassals that need to be defeated. You can check the number of vassals before attacking a territory. These will damage your army, and you will need to replenish them from the monthly gold income. The army is built from soldiers who each cost 1 gold, knights who each cost 8 and catapults cost 15. Some versions end the turn as soon as you recruit soldiers.
In the early game, you should focus on getting as many soldiers as you can, and purchase a catapult as soon as you are ready to capture an enemy castle. Knights are optional, needed only for sufficiently large armies; if you play the game quickly, you won't need them. For longer games, you should get 1 knight for every 25 soldiers. You may want to buy castles at a chokepoint in order to impede future armies but generally you should try to go on the offense, and buy more soldiers to outnumber your enemy.
When attacking a castle, you may want to enlist Robin by entering Sherwood Forest to the north. He will provide assistance for attacking the castle, either providing additional men, or performing other forms of sabotage. You may request his assistance three times in a game.
During any attack, there are several options:
- Ferocious attack: Requires knights, and has them fight at full effectiveness (1 knight = 8 soldiers)
- Bombard: Causes catapults to engage in combat. (1 catapult = 16 soldiers).
- Stand and fight: Normal attack. Catapults are safe, and Knights remain behind (1 knight = 6 soldiers)
- Outflank: Provides a bonus if you have higher leadership then the opponent.
- Retreat: Disengages from battle.
Siege minigame[edit]
When attacking an enemy castle, you will need to breach the outer wall using the catapult. Bring the catapult near the bottom, and have it barely overlap the second-lowest dot, and release. Additional shots will require you to raise the catapult.
In the Amiga version, raise the catapult by two pixels, and 1 pixel for each shot afterward.
Some versions give the option to launch diseased corpses or greek fire. You must break the castle wall for these to have any effect, and both are lobbed over the wall. Disease is best used early in the siege, while Greek Fire should be done last.
You will still attack if the castle wall remains undamaged, but the enemy forces will be twice as strong. As you damage the wall, the defense bonus will greatly decrease.