Beginner's Guide

Units & Combat

No dice, no hit points, no damage rolls. Every fight in Krestfell is decided before it begins — if you can count.

The one rule of combat

An attack is only possible at all when the attacker's ATK exceeds the defender's DEF — and then it always succeeds:

Attacker's ATK > defender's DEF → the defender dies and the attacker advances onto the tile. Anything less, and the game won't offer the attack.

That's it. No randomness, no wounded survivors, no losing attacks. A swordsman (ATK 3) can strike a militia (DEF 1) and the militia dies. A militia (ATK 1) simply cannot attack a spearman (DEF 2) — the option never appears. Equal ATK and DEF favors the defender, which is why equal units block each other like opposing pawns.

Every attack costs 1 action point.

Combos: how the weak kill the strong

If one unit can't beat a defender, several can — together. Instead of attacking, a unit may stage onto a target. When the sum of staged ATK exceeds the defender's DEF, the combo fires: the defender dies, every stager survives, and the last melee stager advances onto the tile.

A war party at a rival border
A war party massed against a rival city — every kill here is decided by counting, not dice.

This is the heart of Krestfell tactics. A spearman (DEF 3) shrugs off any single militia — and even a swordsman's ATK 3 doesn't exceed 3 — but two brutes staged together (2 + 2 = 4 ATK) tear it down with zero losses. Four militia do the same. To break a defender whose DEF is at least your unit's ATK, staging is the only path in the game. There is no attrition to grind it down; a whole staged pile costs 1 action point when it fires.

Reading the roster

The 12 recruitable units (full stats in the Units reference) fall into rough roles:

  • Meat: militia, brute — cheap (6 food for a militia), fielded in numbers, the currency of combos.
  • Anvils: sentry, spearman — high DEF for their price. They hold ground; enemies can't profitably attack them.
  • Blades: swordsman (15 ore), knight (6 food + 15 ore) — high ATK that kills anvils solo.
  • Reach: archer, catapult, mounted archer — strike from range; the catapult out-ranges everything.
  • Speed & sight: light cavalry, mounted archer — scouting and raiding.
  • Support: friar heals; the monk's presence emboldens those around him (aura).

Most of the good roster is gated behind special resources — no iron tended, no swordsmen. Your army list is written by your land.

Veterans

A unit's third kill promotes it, once and forever: +1 DEF for most units — or +1 ATK for the sentry and spearman, turning a proven anvil into a threat. Combo kills credit every stager, so combos are also how you grow veterans safely. Guard your veterans; they break the game's clean numbers in your favor.

Keeping soldiers alive

Two habits prevent most beginner losses:

  1. Count before you march. Any enemy whose ATK exceeds your DEF kills your unit for free. A lone unit crossing open hostile ground is usually a gift.
  2. End turns on strength. Stand units where no single enemy's ATK exceeds their DEF — then nothing can touch them short of a massed combo.