Castle Barrage

Castle Barrage is a free turn-based artillery duel you can play in your browser with no download. Your stone castle sits on tank treads at the left end of a wide valley, and a giant snowy mountain ahead of it: two rock walls that rise past the top of the screen, with blue gates marked ×10, ×5 or ×2 stacked in the narrow canyon between them. The enemy castle is far off to the right, past the edge of the screen. When a level starts the camera flies over to show it once, then comes back home, and a red arrow at the edge of the screen tells you how far away it is. Every rocket that flies through a gate comes out multiplied, so a handful of rockets can turn into hundreds by the time they land on the enemy walls.

You aim every shot yourself, like in the classic artillery games. Press anywhere on the screen, drag back and let go: the direction of the pull sets the angle and its length sets the power. A power bar and a readout such as 45° 50% sit next to the barrel, and a dotted line runs from the barrel to the first gate on your path. The part of the line that goes through rock is drawn as rings, so you can see the tunnel you are about to dig, and the gate you will pass glows. When you fire, the camera follows the salvo all the way to where it lands, and the faint trail of your last shot stays on screen with a mark where it came down. Too short or too long? Adjust a little from the trail and fire again. On a keyboard the arrow keys or W, A, S and D set the angle and power, Space fires and P pauses. Your soldiers take turns, and a yellow arrow shows whose turn it is.

The best gates sit inside the mountain, so you have to dig your way to them. Every rocket blasts away the rock it hits the moment it hits, so each salvo bores the tunnel a little deeper. The first salvo usually breaks into the canyon, and the multiplied rockets punch through the far wall and rain down on the enemy castle. Later levels have thicker rock that takes two salvos or more to get through. After your salvo the enemy fires back: you see their rockets coming, and they chip away at the health bar of your castle at the top of the screen. There are 60 levels in four worlds, Pine Pass, Red Mesa, Frost Fjord and Ember Peak, and every few levels a new idea arrives. Gunners on the enemy walls take turns firing, and the loaded one glows red: hit him and they skip a turn. Some gates slide to a new spot every turn, iron shields stop flat shots, red ÷2 gates halve your salvo, builders repair the castle every turn, wind bends every shot, a supply balloon gives you a bigger salvo when you pop it, and a rolling fortress drives to a new spot every turn. Later come golden ×20 gates that crack after a few rockets, twin keeps where both towers must fall, and portals that drop rockets straight onto the enemy roof. Each world ends with a boss castle, from the Iron Keep to the Magma Fortress.

Your first three minutes are a learning stretch: enemy rockets do far less damage, so you can find your range in peace. A level gives three stars when you win in a few shots and pays coins, more the first time. Spend coins in the Armory on four upgrades: Rocket Rack adds a rocket to every salvo, Warheads make every rocket hit harder, Guidance makes the dotted aim line reach further and keeps the fans of rockets tighter after each gate, and Armor gives your castle more health. If your castle falls you can watch a short video once per level to rebuild it to half health and keep going, and after a win you can double the coins the same way. The Levels map lets you replay any level you have opened, a daily reward adds coins when you come back, your progress is saved in your browser, and every new level you clear counts on the weekly board.