Square strategy
Battles, meanwhile, resemble a flash-based tower-defence game from the mid-2000s. Each general can command up to 5 units, which line up in rows on the battlefield and duke it out with the opposing force. Many battles simply come down to strength of numbers, but there is a basic range of tactical options that can make a difference in close fights. You can order units to switch places on the battlefield, useful for giving your front line a break from the fighting and a chance to heal. Cavalry can also be ordered to charge at an enemy, dealing a large chunk of damage and pushing back their line.
Clever manoeuvres aren’t the only way you can get one over on an opponent via smarts rather than strength. Every so often, you’ll be called to a religious conference, which is basically a massive, international argument, with Kingdoms throwing accusations ranging from heresy to harbouring witches at one another. Once the accusations have been made, everyone gets to cast a vote on whether they support or oppose them. Any upheld accusations will have severe ramifications for the state in question. Consequently, these conferences can be used to sow dissent and chaos into enemy factions that you can then take advantage of.
The strategic manoeuvres are when they’re available, but when they aren’t the result is often being forced into an achingly long siege that slows the experience to a crawl. You can only attack a settlement with one general per turn, presumably for balancing reasons. But it doesn’t make sense for a strategy game to deny me the ability to concentrate my forces in a specific direction.
