Rise: Battle Lines

Review

Medieval times were difficult in so many ways, especially with these long and bloodthirsty wars between kings and kingdoms. Well, now you are able to relive these incredible battles! Take your ten-man army and fight for. . .  hold on, rewind. . . a ten-man army to fight a medieval battle?! Of course! Raise your army and prepare to challenge an opponent in a snappy fifteen minute medieval battle!

Rise: Battle Lines is a turn-based strategy game primarily designed to play against online opponents. However, you can play the game against the AI or even with a friend on same computer in a hotseat battle. You can also play a quick and comprehensive tutorial before you take on an online opponent.
Your grand army of ten will be a combination of five units: knights, swordsmen, axemen, crossbowmen, longbow men plus a general. All units have different point attributes which are attack, defend, move and range. At the start of a game, you will enter a draft where you and your opponent will be selecting your units. I really like this feature; all you know is that both armies will have ten soldiers but you won’t know until the draft is done how many of the units you will have to choose from. To give you an idea, in one draft we had to choose between eight swordsmen, three crossbowmen, five knights, one axeman and one longbow man. Then you and your opponent will take alternate turns to select your units, one by one. After that, you will be ready for battle! 

The battlefield or board is setup in the shape of a hexagon. Your two armies will be each side of the screen at the beginning of the battle. Both players will be able to select all their units (if you want but you are not obliged to do so) one by one and move them across the board. If you play an online game, there is a time limit, but there is no time limit against the AI. When your units are within range of an opposing soldier, you can select to attack him. When you eliminate the enemy (including the General), you win the game and you will be given points.

You can customise your coat-of-arms too, wish is a fun. There are a number of designs to unlock in our heraldry by winning battles and collecting points.
The graphics are nice and the game is very easy to get into. In terms of finding an online game, I find an opponent within minutes.