Knight

#Squire  #Ronin  #Samurai  #Vanguard

* Knight
* Squire

**Knight** or squad leader is a melee infantry subject that leads a small company of archers while defending the Kingdom, carrying out attacks on portals, escorting the boat to the dock in *New Lands*, and escorting the bomb to the cave in *Two Crowns*.

They wield a weapon and a shield, and don an armor and a helmet.

## Squad leader

A squad leader may be:

* a knight, in *Classic* and in *New Lands*
* a **squire** or knight, in Europe, *Two Crowns*
* a **ronin** or **samurai**, Shogun, *Two Crowns*.

## Shield

### Shield cost

6  in  and
4  in

### Operated by

Squad leader

A shield is required to hire a squad leader.
It is unlocked at the town center sixth tier, the castle keep.
Unlike other weapons and tools, there is not a shop or vendor to sell shields.

A shield can be purchased at the castle facade side for six coins each,
and will hang on there until a villager takes it up to become a squad leader, after which each shield is replaced by a similarly colored banner, indicating that the troop leader still has his shield.

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>  | The squires pick their colors randomly from your two colors. The flag reflects that choice. If you have red and blue for colors, you will get a combo of red/red blue/blue and red/blue squires.—Developer Alan  | „
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The squires pick their colors randomly from your two colors. The flag reflects that choice. If you have red and blue for colors, you will get a combo of red/red blue/blue and red/blue squires.Developer Alan
If, without extra coins, he gets hit, unlike archers with their bows, his shield simply disappears when he turns back to being a villager. His banner will appear torn to shreds, indicating that the owner of that shield has fallen in battle, and a new shield can be bought there.

Up to four shields can be waiting on there at a time, two on each side.
Kingdoms can normally hire up to four squad leaders per land.

Squad leaders operate on the side their shield was bought.
If they go onboard for a next island, they will split evenly after disembarking, with odd numbers favoring the dock side.

 *Kingdom Two Crowns* – A shield is not enough to make a knight. Paying a shield to a villager turns him into a knight's or samurai's apprentice. That apprentice, called squire in Europe and ronin in Shogun, is able to perform all the tasks his master can do, but he has a much weaker defense.

### More shields

*This section is about New Lands & Two Crowns.*
It's possible to increase the number of squad leaders on an island by:

* bringing up to three of them on the boat from another island *(see Boat § Leaving the island for details)*, or
* by purchasing extra shields from knight towers.

### Knight tower

*For buying even more shields, see: Knight tower.*
## Upgrading

#Forge  #Blacksmith  #Smithy  #Sword  #Katana
*This section is about Kingdom Two Crowns.*

## Forge

* Europe
* Shogun

### Operated by

Knight / samurai

The forge (or smithy) is required to turn an apprentice squad leader into a master.
It is unlocked at the town center last tier, the iron keep and it requires a large enough empty space protected by an iron wall, that is, with an iron back wall *(see picture)*.
For this the Kingdom needs the iron technology, found on the fourth island.
The forge may appear on the sea side or on the cliff side of the island. 【  】In Europe the forge resembles a large white/light-blue ancient greek kiln with a rusty iron roof. In front of the building there is a rusty cast iron anvil, where a blacksmith craft the swords. To the right there is a tool rack holding multiple blacksmith's tools, and under it, four ground stands for the swords.

A sword or katana can be purchased there for twelve coins each.
Once this is done, the sword attracts one apprentice warrior, who will then become a master. 【  】In Europe the swords uniquely appear in a pillar of light on four ground mounds with an eerie sound, in a likely allusion to Excalibur. In Shogun the katanas appear on the rack with a harp sound, unlike other tools except for Ninjatos.

Up to four swords or katanas can be waiting on the weapon stand at a time.
In Europe, a squire will take up a sword and become a knight.
While in Shogun, a ronin will take up a katana to become a samurai.

As a knight or samurai the warrior can hold more coins and can benefit from the Statue of Knights.

 Shogun

*For a guide on how to keep improving the assault forces, see: Upgrading an offensive army.*
## Personal protection

Squires and knights hold extra coins in order to buff their defensive capabilities. Each coin acts as a health buffer for them (much like with the Monarch), protecting them against all the greed, including floaters and the boulders thrown by breeders. A squire/knight with no coins will irretrievably lose their shield/sword when hit, becoming again a villager.

Knights will collect up to seven coins in *Classic* / *New Lands* and eleven coins in *Two Crowns*; and squires, up to five coins. This makes the main difference between these units: knights are more resistant in battle if they've received all the coins they can hold.

If the villager already had one or two extra coins with him before taking the shield, these one or two coins will count for the total amount of coins kept for personal protection when he becomes a squire/knight.

Coins used for personal protection are much more effective when held by these melee warriors, than when held by any other character in the game, including the Monarch. When they are hit by a greed, they have a chance to block the attack without losing coins.

Unlike other subjects, they won't drop back the extra coins they have for personal protection, if the Monarch stands by them.

There is suspicion that Samurai on Shogun have a higher chance of blocking without losing coins and can defend and destroy more greedlings at once than their Knight equivalents in the European setting.

Squires and knights will collect coins dropped by the Monarch, dropped from hunted animals, and from cut trees. They will ignore coins dropped by the banker and from the unicorn.

## Company

A squire or a knight's company is formed by up to four soldier archers. They enlist any free archers they pass by, until they have four archers under their control\*. The soldiers wear the Kingdom's colors on their clothes, much like knights. They still function similarly to regular archers, but they no longer hunt and instead follow their squad leader and focus on attacking monsters and portals instead of wildlife.

 *Kingdom Two Crowns* – In Norse Lands, archers must be equipped with a shield from the shield shop before they can be recruited by the knight.

## Defense with knights

During the day, idle squires and knights guard the borders by walking to or standing near the Kingdom's defensive line at the outer wall. As night falls, they pull just inside the outer wall along with their soldiers.

When the Greed attacks the outer wall, squires and knights will stand ready as their soldiers shoot arrows over the wall. If the leaders sense, that the outer wall is going to fall, they will retreat with their companies to the next wall. Consequently the soldiers will be able to continue fighting wall by wall without being attacked by ground monsters, although they are still vulnerable to floaters. The squires and knights, if they have enough coins, are also able to block the rocks thrown by breeders, preventing the archers (hunters and soldiers) behind them from being hit.

### Retreating under attack

 *Kingdom: Classic* &  *New Lands* –
Whenever knights retreat, they do so leaving their company of archers behind.
They simply start running back to town, potentially exposing their party to a Greed offensive.
As this happens, the archers end up serving as a meat shield for the knights against the Greed.

 *Kingdom Two Crowns* –
Knights start retreating in a combat position, without turning their back to the Greed.
They slowly walk backwards, remaining at the front of the squad, until they sense they're no longer surrounded by an imminent threat.
Then they start running away, being followed by the archers.

## Assaulting portals

A knight’s and squire's primary purpose is to lead the offenses to destroy portals. During the day, they remain positioned at the banner by the Kingdom's defensive line, ready to launch an attack at the Monarch's command. When four coins are paid to the banner, knights or squires start a charge towards the nearest portal in that direction. The soldiers will immediately follow their liege into battle.

 *Kingdom: Classic* – All knights for that side are sent at once.

 *Kingdom: New Lands* &  *Two Crowns* – Spending four coins at the banner, only sends one squire/knight including their soldiers to attack. Sending more groups to battle requires additional four coins payments.

At the portal, squires/knights stand in front of their soldiers, protecting them while they shoot at the portal frame. Incoming greedlings will attack the squire/knight, sometimes being slain immediately, sometimes being blocked by them, and sometimes knocking one of their coins away. The soldiers might accidentally shoot the monsters coming out of the portal. Occasionally one or two monsters will temporarily break through a squire's/knight's defense and knock a soldier's bow off; however, if his bow is not stolen by a greedling, the villager will try to pick it back up and, as long as the squire/knight still stands, return to the fight. If said villager had his coin taken away (and turned into a vagrant), then a new soldier will immediately be recruited from the central kingdom and run towards the portal to replace the fallen one. Fighting continues until either the portal is destroyed or the attack party is eliminated.

## Cancel an assault order

 It is not possible to cancel any assault order.
Players must be careful when launching an attack to a portal, mainly by evaluating if the troops would have enough time to accomplish that task. 【  】Your troops should arrive at the portal AND destroy it before the portal launches the nightly wave. For that your assault should start very early in the morning (and even before morning, as soon as the Greed wave has been dealt with on that side). Sometimes even doing that isn't enough, because your wall is too far from the portal you want to attack. In that case you should expand your walls, to be able to launch a less risky assault. Note that, if the portal is too far from your borders, the Greed also will release the nightly wave earlier, so they can reach your wall by nighttime.

Players should also pay attention when upgrading a wall, so they do not unintentionaly use the banner coin slots, instead of the wall coin slots.
【  】You may upgrade your wall with a Horn and trigger it in order to cancel a raid.

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Once they go hope they survive!Raw Fury
## Reinforcements for next island

It's possible to request additional troops to board the boat, so they go on defending the Kingdom on the next island. Up to three squad leaders along with their company will engage on this journey.

## Escort the bomb

 *Kingdom Two Crowns* – Two melee warriors are needed to escort the bomb towards the cave and destroy it.

## Gallery

A Ronin and two Samurai from ShogunA Squire and his company from Dead LandsTwo Squad Leaders from Norse LandsA Knight from Dead Lands

## References

1. ↑ Not really understand banners graphics?. *Steam*. 25 January 2022.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 As seen in this short video/gif (*Imgur*), shared by developer Alan on *Steam*. 11 November 2021.
3. ↑ On *Kingdom: Classic* post, on 6 January 2017.
4. ↑ Bug Since last patch? (devs' confirmation). *Steam*. 20 April 2021.
5. ↑ Why can’t I build shields (screenshot). *Reddit*. 20 April 2021.
6. ↑ A note from the Kingdom team. *Steam*. 23 April 2021.
7. ↑ Samurai bug one hit by enemy. *Reddit*. 25 April 2021.
8. ↑ Bug Shogun, new samurai won't take coins. *Steam*. 26 April 2021.