Stick War Saga

Stick War Saga — strategy about stick-figure armies and a unit deck

The goal in battle is simple: knock down your enemy’s statue before they knock down yours. The map is one lane, and both armies march straight at each other, so victory comes down to your troop mix and spending order, not click speed. Gold and crystals come from miners, and how many you have decides when you can field the pricier fighters. The series started with a similar setup back in Stick War II Order Empire, but here you build your army in advance.

An eight-slot deck

Before the fight, you choose eight cards: units, spells, and artifacts. At least two units are required, and one of them has to be a miner. That’s the main difference from the older games: you don’t get a preset faction, you decide for yourself who you’ll fight with. Costs set the pace of the match. A miner costs 150 gold, the Swordwrath swordsman costs 125, the Archidon archer costs 300, the Spearton shield unit costs 450 gold and 50 crystals, and the Magikill mage costs 400 gold and 400 crystals.

Units counter each other

One troop type loses to another, so a blob of the same fighter won’t work. Spearton can take a hit, but moves slowly. Magikill deals area damage and dies almost instantly if enemies get to him. Archidon is weak alone and dangerous only in a group. You can take direct control of any fighter at any time and move them manually.

How many miners to bring

Players usually build decks with 8–12 miners, and the exact number depends on what you’re running. Rush builds apply early pressure and skimp on economy. Turtle builds, on the other hand, hold the line near their statue and save up for expensive units — kind of like in Castle Keeper, where the whole match revolves around defending one point. Upgrades are researched right in battle, in two stages at 45 and 75 seconds.

Where to play besides the campaign

The campaign follows King Zarak and his brother Zilaros and is split into chapters with illustrated cutscenes. On top of that, there are 1v1 matches, 2v2 team battles, 10-level challenges against AI, and daily battles. In deathmatch, the starting conditions are different: you begin with 6 miners, 6000 gold, and 1000 crystals.

Guide

1. Put miners on gold with your very first spending.
2. Cover them with cheap swordsmen while your stockpile builds up.
3. Add Spearton to the front line to soak the damage.
4. Keep Magikill behind the line — he won’t survive melee.
5. Take direct control of your key fighter in the deciding clash.

PC:

• Mouse — all actions
• Click a unit card — create a fighter
• Click a fighter — direct control

Phones:

• Tap a card — create a fighter
• Tap a fighter — direct control