Castle Battle · Against the machine
The Gauntlet
Every kingdom against every kingdom, as duels against the AI — all 100 matchups, in one run, in an order the draw decides. Every win drops a bigger prize into the pot. After every win you choose: take your winnings, or risk them on the next draw. Lose once and the pot is gone, and the board with it.
The run
The board is 10 kingdoms by 10: each row a kingdom you field, each column a kingdom you face, the diagonal every kingdom against itself. You do not choose a square. Entering the Gauntlet — and every time you risk it — the draw deals one of the squares the run has not yet taken, and that is the fight: the kingdom you fight as, and the one you face. Win it and the square is struck off the board.
- A drawn fight stands. Backing out of it, or leaving for the menu, does not throw it back — the same fight is waiting when you return.
- A fight walked away from is a fight lost. Surrender, or leave the field for good, and the run ends as if the foe had won.
- Win all 100 and the Gauntlet is yours: the pot is banked for you, and a fresh run begins.
The foes get harder
The deeper the run, the harder the foe the draw deals. The tiers handicap the machine, never the balance table — a unit's numbers are the same against every one of them:
| Fights | The foe | It fields | Its purse |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–25 | Squire — A green host, thinly armed. Learn the matchup on it. | two fewer kinds of troop than you | the same gold, 15% less income |
| 26–60 | Knight — Your equal — the same breadth of roster, the same purse. | as many kinds of troop as you | the same gold, the same income |
| 61–100 | Warlord — Outmatched on paper: a wider roster and a fatter purse than yours. | three more kinds of troop than you | 45% more gold, 30% more income |
The pot
The first win puts 250 gold in the pot, and every win after it puts in 25 more than the last — times 1.7 once the foes are Knights and 2.8 once they are Warlords. The last fight of the run puts in 7,630. A kingdom drawn against itself adds 100 before the tier.
And the marks along the way drop into the pot the moment a run reaches them:
| Wins in a row | The mark | Adds | The pot then holds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Five standing | 750 | 2,250 |
| 10 | Ten fallen | 2,500 | 6,875 |
| 25 | A quarter of the realm | 8,000 | 25,000 |
| 50 | Half the realm | 25,000 | 99,944 |
| 75 | Three quarters | 50,000 | 258,209 |
| 100 | The whole Gauntlet | 150,000 | 577,959 |
A battle's own purse is paid as it always is, win or lose; the pot is on top of it, and a Battle Pass doubles it when it is banked.
Take it, or risk it
After every win the Gauntlet asks one question. Take your winnings, and the pot is yours to keep — and the board is wiped for a fresh run. Risk it, and the draw deals the next fight before you see it; win and the pot grows, lose and every coin of it is gone. You can leave the question for later — the pot waits, unbanked, until you answer it.
What it counts toward
Every matchup you have ever won stays won, across every run: the Roll of Deeds counts all 100 of them, and all 300 against every tier of foe. Win every one of a kingdom's 10 matchups against a Warlord and that kingdom's prize keep is yours.