Mercenary Keep: Siege Defense

Mission briefing

Castle defense with a living wall. Hold your keep against waves of bandits, undead and witches: tap enemies to focus your crossbow, raise a 5-second Shield Dome against red-marked heavy blows, throw Fire Pots and unleash Crown's Wrath. Every boss has its own move you can see coming. Grow the keep floor by floor, hire named mercenaries, man the ballista and lead short hands-on expeditions.

Field manual

Enemies come from the right. Your heroes fight on their own; tap or click an enemy to focus your fire on it. Shield (W) holds 5 seconds against red-marked heavy blows, then waits 5 seconds; Fire Pots (E) hit dense groups; Crown's Wrath (R) is your big strike. Read each boss's wind-up and press the right button. Spend gold on upgrades and floors, and survive as many waves as you can.

Launch orders: press Launch mission above and the game loads on this page itself — nothing downloads and no form stands between you and the first move. It is designed for a flexible screen and takes its orders from mouse, keyboard or touch, depending on the mission. It adapts to both upright and wide screens, so phones, tablets and desktops all frame it sensibly. If it offers a fullscreen control, use it — a fight this size deserves the whole screen.

Field notes for action operations

• First run is reconnaissance. Spend it learning where the danger actually spawns from instead of chasing a score — most action games announce their patterns honestly in the opening minute, then repeat them with worse manners.
• Movement is a defensive stat. A moving target at half health outlives a stationary one at full health in nearly every game on this board, so keep relocating between shots, strikes and reloads.
• Learn the exit before the entrance closes. In arena and chase games alike, the players who survive longest are the ones who noticed the second doorway while everyone else was watching the first.

Mercenary Keep: Siege Defense — questions from the ranks

What does it cost to play Mercenary Keep: Siege Defense?

Nothing at all. The mission is free from the first order to the last — no sign-up, no download, no paid tier guarding the good levels. The advertising around this page is what keeps the board free.

What sort of mission is Mercenary Keep: Siege Defense?

Mercenary Keep: Siege Defense is filed in our Action theatre. Like every operation on this board, it is a browser game — read the briefing above for the publisher's own account of what you are deploying into.

Can I run Mercenary Keep: Siege Defense on a phone or tablet?

Yes. It plays in the browser on phones and tablets exactly as it does on a computer. It adapts to both upright and wide screens, so phones, tablets and desktops all frame it sensibly.

Do I have to install anything before playing?

No installation of any kind. Mercenary Keep: Siege Defense is an HTML5 game: press the launch button and it loads on this page, and closing the tab leaves nothing behind.

After-action

Mission complete, or still pinned down? The full Action theatre is one click away — The main hall of the board: 469 operations where something is always moving, exploding, escaping or being chased. If a game has a pulse and a problem, it is probably filed here.