Kent history

Dover Castle, 1216

You command a mangonel on the walls. Prince Louis's engineers are coming up the hill with siege towers, ladders and a battering ram. Knock them down before your stones run out.

How to play

• Press on the mangonel (left, on the wall), drag back to set the angle and power, and let go to fire. The dotted line shows roughly where the stone will go.
• Red flags mark the targets: siege engines, ladders and the men at the walls. Knock every flagged target down to clear the level.
• Stone and wood take hits differently, heavy shots do more damage, and anything with nothing under it falls. Later levels add wind.
• Spare stones earn stars. Your progress is saved in this browser.

The real siege

In 1216 the barons at war with King John invited Prince Louis of France to take the English crown. Louis landed in Kent in May, took Rochester and Canterbury, and from July laid siege to Dover Castle, held for the king by Hubert de Burgh. The French mined under the outer gate and brought down part of the barbican, but the garrison held, and a truce followed in October. The siege resumed in 1217 and ended after Louis's cause collapsed with defeats at Lincoln in May and in the sea battle off Sandwich in August. Dover's resistance is one reason the castle was later called "the key to England".

A game, not a reconstruction: the engines, levels and physics are invented for play. Nothing is sent to our servers.