Trebuchet Game: Siege

How to play

1. Pull back anywhere on the screen, like a slingshot: down and to the left aims up and to the right. The arrow on the trebuchet shows your angle, and it grows longer and redder with power.
2. Let go to throw. White dots show the start of the flight, and the orange dots show where your last stone went, so you can adjust: more power to throw further, a higher angle to drop onto the top of a tower.
3. Knock the castle down until every one of the Usurper's guards yields. A guard yields when he falls, is knocked flat or takes a hard hit.
4. From the fourth castle you also get fire pots: tap FIRE POT to load one. It bursts on impact and shoves everything nearby.

Tips

• Most castles fall to about 45 degrees and 60 to 75 percent power. Start there and adjust from the orange trail.
• Hit the posts low: when a post goes, the whole floor above it comes down.
• Stone blocks shrug off glancing blows. Aim at timber, or drop a stone on them from high above.
• Every stone you keep scores 1,000 points and earns stars, so the first shot matters most.
• A high lob lands on the guards on top; a flat, fast shot breaks the lower floors.

A siege engine that ended sieges

A counterweight trebuchet is a giant lever. A heavy box of stones on the short arm drops, the long arm whips over, and a sling at its tip lets go of the stone at the top of the swing. Medieval armies used them to batter walls from out of bowshot.

The most famous is the Warwolf, built for Edward I of England at the siege of Stirling Castle in 1304. Master James of St George oversaw its construction, and its shots demolished a section of the curtain wall. In this game you only need to topple timber and stone, and the guards simply wave a white flag.