The Swarm is coming down the valley, and you command the last garrison standing between it and the kingdom. You can't stop it. You can only make it pay for every yard.

Three forts stand in a line: The Watch, The Portcullis and The Candle. Each one is weaker than the last, and each one pays less. At the end of every wave the game asks you one question:

HOLD ONE MORE WAVE, OR ORDER THE RETREAT?

Staying multiplies your points and your war pay, but the walls never come back to full, and your soldiers wear down wave after wave. Retreating banks your score for good and brings the whole garrison with you, but the fort you leave behind burns for the rest of the run. Wait too long and there is only the rout: half your unbanked points and half your soldiers stay behind in the mud, and the Swarm follows you straight into the next fort.

DURING THE WAVE
You fight in first person on the wall walk as the commander, an archer with a longbow and a limited quiver. The walls show the damage for you. Stone cracks, then breaches, then collapses. Small creatures pour through every hole, and brutes batter the walls to open new ones.

BETWEEN WAVES
From the command view above the courtyard, you get ready for what's coming:
- Hire soldiers onto fixed posts: pikemen in the courtyard, and archers, cannoneers and mages on the wall walk
- Upgrade them with mana stones dropped by the Swarm
- Repair the walls, but there's never enough material to fix everything
- Trade at the market, refill your quiver and upgrade the commander
- Scout the next wave, so every decision is an informed one

30 waves. A giant Aberration every tenth wave. One question, asked again and again, until you answer it wrong.

At the end of a run, a summary screen shows where you held, what it cost, and where the run ranks on your local scoreboard.

Made solo for the "One More Round" game jam.