Create teams, choose different AI opponents and design your own map in the ultimate skirmish or multiplayer game! Once your skills have been perfected put them to the test in skirmish mode or take the battle online with up to eight human and AI players. Raise morale with the Sergeant at Arms, charge in with the Sassanid Knight, use Archers to launch an arrow volley or scale castle walls with the deadly Assassin.

To dominate the battlefield you will need to command more than 25 unique unit types, mastering their special abilities. Become the greatest Lord by managing your desert economy and seizing control of vital oases. Lead your forces into battle as either Richard the Lionheart or the Sultan of Syria in two historic single-player campaigns, with dynamic events such as tornados and locust swarms. Playing as a brutal Crusader Knight or Arabic freedom fighter, you must use a deadly array of troops and destructive siege equipment to decide the fate of the holy lands. True to its roots this new Stronghold will define old school real time strategy, combining RTS and city builder gameplay. Crusader 2 will recapture the original gameвЂ™s addictive, fast-paced gameplay and authentic castle simulation. After 12 years Stronghold returns to the deserts of the Middle East circa 1189, with a new 3D engine and realistic castle destruction powered by Havok Physics. Stronghold Crusader 2 is the long awaited sequel to Stronghold: Crusader, the original 'castle sim'.

Stronghold crusader 2