Emberward

The Kindled and the Hollow

How to begin

Open the game from the Tronsoft Games library. Choose New ward, then pick a ward, the host you will command, and the temper and skill of your opponent. Press Take the field. If a ward is already in progress the title sheet offers Resume instead; the game saves itself after every completed season, yours and the machine's alike.

Controls

On the ward: click one of your pieces to pick it up. Its reachable hexes are ringed in gold; hexes holding an enemy are ringed in red and crossed. Click a lit hex to go there. Click the piece again, or an empty hex, to put it down. The Workings row casts a working; Yield season passes.

In the arena: ← ↑ ↓ → or W A S D move, space or a click strikes, the pointer aims a bolt, P or Esc pauses. On a touch screen a pad and a strike button appear.

Turn order

The Kindled move first. One action a season each: a move or a working, not both. When both hosts have acted the season advances and the tide turns one phase. The opening light is set against whoever moves first, so the second host is stronger for the first few seasons.

Movement

Each unit has a gait. Walkers pay the terrain cost of every hex they enter and cannot pass through anyone. Fliers ignore the ground and everything on it and simply land anywhere within their span. Chargers run in one of the six straight lines until something stops them. Leapers step over anything inside their span. Nothing at all may stand on the riftmaw.

Terrain	Cost	Passable	Arena clutter	Footing
Ashfield	1	yes	0.05	1.05
Emberglass	1	yes	0.12	1.18
Cinderdrift	2	yes	0.09	0.84
Bone Orchard	2	yes	0.26	0.92
Stillwater	2	yes	0.04	0.72
Riftmaw	4	no	0.3	0.9

Combat

Moving onto an enemy opens a duel in the arena: a 7 by 5 hex floor made from the terrain of the contested hex, lit by that hex's phase of the tide. Both fighters carry a pool of vigour scaled by the light — a Kindled piece swells by up to a quarter in radiance and thins by as much in shadow, and the Hollow are the mirror of it. The holder of the hex gets a further 0.06 for standing its ground. After 12.8 seconds the ward begins to close in and anything outside it is burned, so no duel can be run away from for ever. A duel is decided when one fighter is spent, or at 32 seconds on the greater share of vigour remaining.

Unit	Host	Role	Gait	Vigour	Pace	Reach	Damage a second
Lantern-Bearer	kindled	warden	walk 3	84	1.7	0.55	16.1
Sunhawk	kindled	flier	fly 4	86	2.9	0.5	23.8
Cinder Wisp	kindled	flier	fly 5	42	3.4	0.4	16.7
Slagwarden	kindled	anchor	walk 2	156	1.15	0.95	25.2
Ember Lancer	kindled	lancer	charge 4	104	2.1	1.35	23.5
Ashen Stag	kindled	skirmisher	charge 5	86	3	0.7	26
Dawn Herald	kindled	archer	walk 3	54	1.9	0.5	14.1
Mirrorkin	kindled	trickster	leap 3	80	2.3	0.8	18.3
Nightbinder	hollow	warden	walk 3	87	1.55	0.55	16.2
Gloomwing	hollow	flier	fly 4	84	3.1	0.45	23.7
Gravemoth	hollow	flier	fly 5	46	3.2	0.42	17.6
Barrowhulk	hollow	anchor	walk 2	168	1.05	1.05	24.8
Rift Lancer	hollow	lancer	charge 4	100	2.2	1.45	23.8
Hollow Stalker	hollow	skirmisher	charge 5	82	3.15	0.65	26.1
Thorn Caster	hollow	archer	walk 3	60	1.8	0.5	13.3
Shade-Eater	hollow	trickster	leap 3	77	2.4	0.75	18.2
Cinder Wraith	neutral	elemental	walk 3	74	2.4	0.6	16
Brine Wraith	neutral	elemental	walk 3	110	1.8	0.9	27.5
Squall Wraith	neutral	elemental	fly 5	70	3.6	0.5	30.6
Loam Wraith	neutral	elemental	walk 2	140	1.2	1	25.5

Workings

Your warden carries 7 workings, one use each. Speaking one costs the season. Lose the warden and every working still unspent is lost with it.

• Mend — One of your own is made whole again, whatever the duels have taken from it.
• Displace — One of your own steps out of the ward and back into any empty hex of it.
• Barter — Any two pieces on the ward change places, friend or foe, willing or not.
• Recall — A fallen piece of yours is called back to an empty home hex at half vigour.
• Conjure — An elemental is raised within two hexes of your warden and holds for a season.
• Fetter — An enemy piece is bound where it stands for three turns and may not move.
• Wane — The tide is pulled two phases forward and the whole ward changes its colour.

Winning

Hold all 5 wardstones at the start of one of your seasons, or destroy every enemy piece. Resting a piece on a wardstone mends 12 vigour at the start of your season, so the stones are worth holding for their own sake.

Losing

The same two conditions, against you. If neither host manages either inside the season limit, the ward runs cold and is settled on wardstones held, then pieces standing, then vigour remaining.

The wards

Ward	Moves first	Forces	Workings	Par in seasons
First Light	kindled	4 v 4	no	18
The Warden's Gambit	hollow	6 v 6	yes	34
The Long Ward	kindled	8 v 8	yes	42

Saving and restarting

The game writes itself to this browser's local storage after every completed season under a single key, tronsoft_emberward_save, and offers Resume on the title sheet. A finished ward clears the save. Menu saves and returns to the title sheet at any time between duels. If the browser refuses local storage the game is still fully playable; only the save is lost.