How to play Marrow March

Marrow March is easy to start and slow to master. You place soldiers in front of a wall, the dead march on it, and everything you earn makes the next attempt stronger. This guide covers the first night, the two currencies, the wall, the ages and the prestige layer.

What do I do on the first night?

Press PLACE, then click the field in front of the wall: that is an archer. Archers shoot whatever walks into range. Start the assault and watch the host come. Every kill pays gold, and between assaults you spend it on more soldiers and on training the ones you have. The first night is a lesson, and the herald points at each new thing the first time it appears.

What are gold and Essence for?

Gold is for this run: soldiers, their training, traps and wall guns. It pays for every kill and is gone when the run ends. Essence is for good: you earn it by holding assaults, you keep it when a run ends, and you spend it in the Essence Tree, 351permanent upgrades across 6 disciplines. That is the incremental loop: a lost run still pays into the next one.

How do I make my soldiers stronger?

Click a soldier to train it: damage, attack speed, reach and more, and each kind has skills of its own. One strong archer beats three weak ones, so train before you spread out. Each kind has a job; seeevery soldier:

• Archer: single target, fast.
• Wizard: area blast, slow.
• Catapult: ground bombardment — lobs over shields, blind up close.
• Shaman: support — empowers one ally at a time, never fights.
• Windcaller: straight gale — blows a lane of foes back, strongest up close.
• Ballista: one heavy bolt at extreme reach — the only answer to a standoff.

What happens when the wall falls?

Early on, a fallen wall ends the run, and the Essence you earned is kept. Once you have cleared the first age, a breach no longer ends it: the fight moves inside, onto the road to the city gate. Soldiers can stand on the road too. Click the winch to drop the portcullis and hold them at the breach, and in later ages pour the oil, raise the drawbridge and open the sea gates. If the city gate falls, the run is over. Seethe defenses.

When do new soldiers and systems unlock?

Nothing in Marrow March is shown before you reach it. New parts arrive with your commander's level (the ladder runs to 100), and the herald introduces each one the first time:

The campaign map, the March, opens once the first age is cleared.

How do the ages and assaults work?

The March has 10 ages of 20 assaults each. Every age has its own sky: fog shortens every reach, rain drags at the dead and damps your fire, and a storm makes everything worse and pays more for it. Lords of the dead wait along the way: the Bone Colossus from the first age, the Bone Titan from the sixth. Clear an age to open the next; replaying old ground still pays part of what it paid the first time. See all ten ages.

Can Marrow March play itself?

Partly. From commander level 6, AUTO lets assaults run one after another on their own, so you can let a strong line hold while you are away from the keyboard. Choosing where to place soldiers, what to train and what to buy in the tree stays with you.

What is the Ancestral Sky?

The prestige layer. After your first real fall, a line of commanders can end on purpose: everything it built is lost, and what survives is Legacy, spent on the gifts of the Ancestral Sky. Those gifts are general (every soldier cheaper, every lord of the dead softer), so the next line climbs the same ages faster.

Tips for a first run

• Train before you spread out: one strong archer beats three weak ones.
• Wizards hit a whole cluster; put them where the host bunches up.
• Catapults lob over shields but are blind up close. Keep them back.
• Windcallers sell time, not kills: they blow a lane of the dead back, strongest up close.
• Shamans never fight. Put one next to the soldier you most want to be stronger.
• When Skeleton Archers stand off out of reach, the Ballista is the answer.
• Traps go on the open field beyond your soldiers, where the dead walk.