You start with a sword, a little silver and six farmhands. Growing that band into an army is a loop of fighting, paying and upgrading. These steps cover the first hours of Thornreach and the habits that keep a campaign moving.
Follow the objective first
The objective card and the flag on the map always point to the next story step. Following it early introduces towns, recruiting and battle in order, and the nine-chapter story reaches the coronation in about 45 to 90 minutes. Side trips pay off once you can afford them.
Recruit cheap troops and upgrade them
Militia cost 12 gold and can be hired in villages, towns and castles. With experience and a little gold they upgrade into spearmen or archers. Spearmen become pikemen, swordsmen become knights, archers become crossbowmen and light riders become lancers. Those top troops cannot be hired directly, so keep your veterans alive.
Build a mixed army
Spears and pikes stop cavalry, riders run down archers, and archers wear down slow infantry. Knights on foot shrug off arrows, and crossbow bolts punch through armor. A mixed army handles more fights than a stack of one troop type.
Cover wages and food before a long march
Wages are paid at the start of each in-game week, when your fiefs also pay out. Unpaid wages lower morale and the lowest-tier troops leave first, and an army that runs out of food starts deserting after a few days. Buy provisions at a market before you set out.
Give orders in battle
You control your knight directly while your troops follow orders: R calls them to follow you, H holds them in place, Space orders a charge and F focuses a foe. On a touch screen, use the order buttons and tap a foe to focus it. Holding spears in place makes a cavalry charge come to them.
Prepare for sieges
Sieges add walls, a gate and ladders. Your foot soldiers carry the ladders to the wall and a ram batters the gate, so protect those crews or hack at the gate yourself. Auto-resolve is quicker but usually costs more troops than fighting the battle yourself.
A medieval army RPG with real-time battles
Practice in Thornreach
By Goblin Originals
Controls
Click or tap to travel; WASD and mouse or touch joystick in battle
Progression
Nine story chapters in about 45–90 minutes
Ride a hand-drawn realm of towns, castles, villages, mines and ruins. Recruit and upgrade an army, take fiefs for weekly income and win the oaths of the great houses on the way to the empty throne at Highcrown.
Choose Squire, Knight or Warlord difficulty when you start. On Goblin Arcade the campaign saves after battles, when you leave a location and every in-game week.
Knight is the intended challenge. Squire brings gentler foes and kinder purses, while Warlord brings bigger enemy hosts, thinner coffers and more renown.
Why are my soldiers leaving?
Either wages went unpaid at the start of the week or the army ran out of food. Keep enough gold for the next payday and buy provisions before long marches.
How is the final score decided?
Your score is the renown you hold at the coronation. Claiming Highcrown sooner adds a larger coronation bonus: 200 renown for every week under 16.
Thornreach is our original medieval army RPG. Troop names, prices and rules here are Thornreach’s own and differ from other games in the genre.