Stronghold Adds Historically Accurate Exploding Oxen to Your Siege Arsenal
Firefly Studios’ love affair with gunpowder continues with new four siege weapon reveals
London, UK – February 14, 2020 — British indie developer Firefly Studios has just revealed four new pieces of siege equipment coming to Stronghold: Warlords, their latest entry in the legendary ‘castle sim’ series. Drawn from multiple historical accounts of inventive uses of gunpowder and livestock, the siege engines of Warlords are truly something to behold:
Watch the new siege weapons in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DujbdkMBuUI
“Admittedly we added powder kegs to the oxen, but everything else about them is authentic” said Nick Tannahill, Marketing Director at Firefly Studios. “There’s a lot of slapstick, Monty Python style humour in the Stronghold DNA and we couldn’t resist bringing these brave beasts to life in video game form!”
Based on the historical sieges of ancient China, ranging from Tian Dan’s 3rd century BC assault on the city of Jimo through to the Siege of De’an in 1132 AD, the Fire Ox has an interesting history. With incendiary fabrics attached to its tail and spears at its side, this living weapon was an unexpected force to be reckoned with. Capable of decimating enemy siege lines before they knew what hit them, the Fire Ox was an unorthodox but effective tactical solution to a common siege scenario. Alongside series classics like the Mantlet, Laddermen and Catapult, the Fire Ox rounds out this first set of siege weapons to be revealed for the latest entry in the RTS series.
Stronghold: Warlords hopes to deliver on the promise of virtual gunpowder with castle defences, economy buildings and siege weapons all featuring the new resource type. Fire Oxen, Fire Lancers, gunpowder traps and more will build on the series’ love of fire to give players completely new options for blowing apart rival castles in story mode, skirmish or online against friends.
Scheduled for release on Steam this year, players can find out more about Stronghold: Warlords by visiting the game’s official website: www.StrongholdWarlords.com
About Stronghold: Warlords
The latest ‘castle sim’ RTS from Firefly Studios, Stronghold: Warlords allows you to recruit, upgrade and command AI warlords across the battlefield. Each warlord under your command boosts your strategic prowess with their own unique perks, characteristics and upgradeable abilities. Use them to boost your industry, fortify defences or team up for a pincer attack! Each campaign mission, skirmish game and multiplayer battle means a fresh set of warlords to command and new strategic depth. Stronghold: Warlords is Firefly’s first game to recreate the castle economies of the Far East, allowing you to command Mongol hordes, imperial warriors and samurai clansmen as you lay siege to Japanese castles and fortified Chinese cities. Besiege historical warlords using new gunpowder-fuelled siege weapons and a completely new way to play Stronghold. For the latest news on Stronghold: Warlords visit www.strongholdwarlords.com.
About Firefly Studios
Firefly Studios is an independent PC games developer specializing in real-time strategy and MMO titles since 1999. Formed by Simon Bradbury and Eric Ouellette of Caesar and Lords of the Realm fame, the company has brought to market many high profile and commercially successful strategy games. These include the Stronghold series with lifetime sales of seven million and Stronghold Kingdoms, which currently has over seven million registered players. Firefly has offices in the UK and US with around 30 full and part-time staff. For more information visit their website at www.fireflyworlds.com or follow @fireflyworlds on Twitter.
