FLATCROWN

Fifteen shires. One empty throne.

A rainy afternoon with Defender of the Crown on the Amiga: jousts, sieges and lords you truly hated, while somebody shouted from the kitchen that dinner was getting cold. FLATCROWN is that afternoon, made new: a painted realm of fifteen shires, one deed a season, and every fight settled by your own hands, in the lists, at the catapult and up the great hall. Play it alone against four scheming lords, or sit down across the table from someone you love and take their castle.

1–2 playersStrategyMedievalJoustSiege

Pre-order FlatboyTwo heirs, one at each end of the table, and only one crown.

Lances down. Aim for the boss.

Two houses charge down the lists at each other from the two ends. The painted shield rises, the lance tip finds its mark, and the contact comes in slow motion, splinters everywhere. Picture a hand on each stick and the whole room leaning in.

Gallopon the hoofbeat, and feel the lance start to sway

Aimfor the boss of the shield as it rushes at you

Unhorsethem in one pass. Then say nothing at all.

Real gameplay, straight off the table's screen.

The old king is dead. The throne is empty.

Old King Aldren the Grey is dead, with no heir of his body, and the Ember Crown lies on an empty throne at Kingsmere, the island castle in the great lake of Harrowmark. You are one of his household knights: Sir Edric the Steady, Dame Isolde the Lance, Sir Bram the Blade or Lady Maren the Wise. You start at Ashford with one shire, 40 marks, thirty footmen and two knights.

Every season you pick one deed. March on a shire, host a tourney, raid a rival's vault, rescue a captive, or rest and heal. Then the map answers, and the four lords move: Blackthorn the Wolf, Crane the Miser, Varre the Viper and Stonebrand the Bear, each with a face you will learn to hate, and they remember who raided them. Each winter the Great Council meets. Hold Kingsmere and eight shires and the crown is yours.

Three ways to take the crown.

The long one

Campaign

You against the four lords. Pick your heir (command, lance, blade or a full treasury) and a difficulty: Squire for first plays and the kids, Knight, or Lord. Up to twenty seasons of marching, tourneys, raids, rescues and sieges, then a crowning or a fall, a chronicle of your deeds and your initials on the table.

Face to face

Rivals

Two heirs: one at Ashford in the south, one at Frostfell in the north, a lord on either side of you. Every scene is played from each player's own end. First to be crowned wins, or take the other's seat.

Arcade

The Lists

Just the joust. A ladder of eight knights, each harder than the last, three lives and a score. Two players: best of five, lance to lance.

15shires in the realm

4rival lords

20seasons at most

3captives to rescue

8knights in the Lists

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