6-12 min
Stick Battle

Stick Battle

Reaction

One lane, two keeps, and a war chest that runs out. Four unit types, and armour decides which of them your gold should buy.

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Stick Battle is a free online stick army war game about spending a fixed war chest well. Gold trickles in, four kinds of stick soldier cost different amounts, and both keeps sit at opposite ends of a single lane — so the only question you ever answer is what to buy next. Armour is what makes that a real question. A shield soaks a flat amount off every hit it takes, so a spear’s many small jabs bounce off it while a lancer’s single heavy thrust punches straight through; against unarmoured troops that reverses completely and cheap spears are far and away the best value. Ten soldiers is all you can field at once, so once your line is full the only way to improve it is to buy better, not more. Six levels, from a spear-only border skirmish to a full levy of armour, bows and lances. Your chest is finite and so is theirs: absorb the barrage, then break through. No download, no account.

How to play Stick Battle

  1. Your keep is on the left, the enemy keep on the right, and everything happens in the one lane between them.
  2. Gold arrives on its own. The readout shows what you hold and how much is left in the war chest for the whole level.
  3. Tap a unit card to send that soldier out. The cost comes straight off your gold.
  4. Soldiers walk forward on their own, stop when something is in reach, and fight until one of them falls.
  5. Only ten of your soldiers can be on the field at once, so a full line means buying better rather than more.
  6. Spear is cheap and fast and gives the most damage per gold — against unarmoured troops.
  7. Shield carries heavy armour that subtracts a flat amount from every hit it takes, and barely any damage of its own. It holds a line; it does not win one.
  8. Lancer hits once, hard. That single big hit is what gets through armour, which makes it the answer to a shield wall and a waste on light troops.
  9. Archer outranges everything but cannot fire at all once something reaches it, so it needs a line in front of it.
  10. Bring the enemy keep to zero to take the level. Lose your own keep, or run out of both gold and soldiers, and the attack has failed.

Tips

  • Read what is walking toward you before you buy. The whole game is that one decision, repeated.
  • Against shields, stop buying spears. A flat 19 points comes off every hit, and a spear only hits for 24 — you are paying full price for a fifth of the damage.
  • A lancer costs more than twice a spear and is still the better buy against armour, because armour takes the same amount off a big hit as off a small one.
  • Against unarmoured troops the reverse is true and nothing beats massed spears for value. Do not buy the expensive answer to a problem you do not have.
  • Never field shields alone. They have the least damage in the game by a wide margin, so a wall of them can hold the middle of the lane forever without ever taking the keep.
  • Archers want a screen. Put anything at all in front of them — once an enemy is at contact range the bow cannot fire and the archer is simply a body with 70 health.
  • Watch the field counter. Once it reads ten, your gold is only useful for replacing losses with better units, so start saving for the expensive answer instead of topping up with spears.
  • The war chest is the real timer, not the clock. Gold you waste on the wrong unit is gone from the level entirely.
  • Finishing with your keep nearly untouched is three stars, so holding the line early is worth more than rushing the last hundred health.

FAQ

Is Stick Battle free to play?

Yes. It runs in the browser with no download, no sign-up and nothing to buy. All six levels are included and unlock as you take them.

Why do my spears do nothing against shields?

Because armour is subtracted from every individual hit, not from your damage overall. A shield takes 19 off each hit it receives and a spear only strikes for 24, so nearly all of it is absorbed. A lancer strikes for 52, loses the same 19, and lands 33 — which is why one expensive unit can out-damage three cheap ones against armour and be a waste of gold against anything else.

What is the war chest?

The total gold you will earn on the level. Income arrives gradually but stops once the chest is empty, so gold spent on the wrong unit is not just slow — it is gone. The enemy has a finite barrage in the same way, which is why every level ends rather than grinding on forever.

Why can I only have ten soldiers?

So that composition is a choice rather than an amount. Without a cap, income never stops and the best play is always to flood the lane with the single most gold-efficient unit — which made every level a spear-spamming exercise and the other three cards decoration. With a cap, gold past a full line can only buy something better.

Is the archer any good?

Behind a line, yes — it has by far the longest reach in the game. On its own, no: it cannot fire at a target that has closed to contact, so an army of nothing but archers folds the moment anything reaches the front one. That weakness is deliberate, because reach with no drawback made massed archers beat every other composition.

Is every level actually winnable?

Yes, and it is checked rather than assumed. A reference commander that buys whatever converts gold into damage best against the army actually in front of it takes all six levels, a commander that buys nothing loses all six, and every level is required to reach a result rather than stalling. Replaying a level shuffles the order the enemy fields its plan, so a rematch is not quite the same fight — except on the first level, where the enemy only has spears and there is nothing to shuffle. Each level is also checked to field every unit its description mentions.

Can I just spam the cheapest unit?

On many levels, yes — and that is a measured property of the game rather than an oversight we are hiding. The spear gives the best damage per gold against unarmoured troops, and most enemy soldiers are unarmoured, so massing spears is a genuinely strong opening. The armour levels are where it stops working: against a shield wall your gold buys a fifth of the damage it usually does, and the levels built around that punish it.

Does it work on a phone?

Yes. The lane takes the taller portrait frame and the four unit cards sit two-by-two underneath it, each still showing its cost and what it is for — the only information the game asks you to act on.