Scholars all over the NanoStar Siege world are rejoicing as the Guild of Mapmakers have begun their work of mapping out the areas around the Home Kingdoms. The Guild has dispatched emissaries to explore the mountainous region to the north to learn more about our new neighbors. Check back tomorrow to see what they have discovered!

The Brass Mama is an awesome cannon that fires a spinning chain shot through the enemy ranks. It can cut down almost anything in its path and to add insult to injury, it even explodes after running out of momentum, killing even more hapless enemies. The Mama is very accurate, so it can be used to blast a wide hole in the wall as well.

In defense, use the Brass Mama as a powerful Front Line Hero to scythe through the enemies before they even make contact or deploy it in attack to cut a path for your stormtroopers for a fast win.

NanoStar: KFP (rare) Category: Attack, column Power: Legendary

What would a medieval army be without a catapult? This powerful, if inaccurate area weapon can bust walls and crush soldiers, so it’s ideal for any commander looking for more firepower in attack and defense.

Use the Catapult to devastate large packed enemy formations or to take down the castle wall before your troops clear the garrison troops. It is very slow and inaccurate, so don’t use the Catapult to snipe at specific units – at least not without playing the Artillerist Hero first.

NanoStar: Crazy Penguin (uncommon)
Category: Attack, area
Power: Mighty

The Runaway Beast is used by selecting a column for it to run down on. It will trample on any units that get in its way (both friend AND foe) until it gets killed (after doing enough damage). It is a very powerful attack card that can be used to clear very large amounts of weak troops (or a few strong ones).

Use the Runaway Beast in defense and attack to clear off archer columns or to knock out blocker monsters like ogres and elementals. The Beast also makes for a good “last-resort” card you can keep around to take out an enemy formation that has broken through you ranks.

NanoStar: Cookie (common)
Category: Attack, column
Power: Strong

The red-bordered Heroes are called Attack Heroes. They exist for one simple function only: to hurt your enemy in as many ways as possible. Roughly speaking, the Attack Heroes are divided into ones that cause damage and to Curses.

Curse… Heroes (like Second-Rate Troops or Worthless Equipment) lower the abilities of the units they are used on, making them easier to kill. Use them to weaken strong groups before melee or to make sure the tougher enemy units behind the cursed ones have to linger behind while their unfortunate friends are trying to fight with their lowered stats. Curse Heroes can only be targeted on enemy troops, so you can cast them directly to a melee without harming your own soldiers.

Damage Heroes (like Hellhound or Cannon) are simple: They kill, maim, slash, crush, burn – in other words, cause damage. The differences between Damage Heroes come not only in power, but in size and shape of their effective area. Damage Heroes do not distinguish between friend or foe, so use them at your own risk or suffer some “blue-on-blue” casualties

Don’t forget to take what’s yours! We all know that whenever you get attacked, you can collect some gold from the dead attackers, but did you know that those events will be automatically removed from you News (if not collected) in 24 hours and the gold will go to your greedy peas…ants instead of you, their rightful ruler? Remember to check in your kingdom every day to get all the gold that belongs to you!

The Last Stand turns the soldiers in its area of effect invulnerable for a while, after which the blessed units are killed automatically. Sounds so-so? Think again. “Invulnerable” means they can’t be killed by anything: Not by bombs, by cannons, cav…alry, Ogre Kings, poison, lava – nothing. Units in the Last Stand will hold their ground against anything. Combo this with something nasty like Poisoned Weapons or Plaguebearers to create unkillable nightmares in front of your enemy’s top troops or ensure your guys some peace and quiet while they knock down that wall right under an arrow shower. So-so? Hardly.

NanoStar: Jim (common)
Category: Unit Booster
Power: Strong

An Earth Elemental is a big, hulking monster that can be summoned almost anywhere on the battlefield. It moves really slowly, so it can’t really gain ground, but it makes one hell of a blocker unit. Since it can take a lot of punishment, the point …is not so much to advance, but to hold back (and destroy) superior numbers. Use the Earth Elemental to crush lurking enemy special units (like Master Archers) or to hold off an advancing enemy army until your reinforcements manage to get on the field. In defense, the Elemental makes for a great “bouncer” to guard your castle or a good field unit: No other Strong reinforcement Hero brings as much bang for the buck as old “Rocky” here.

NanoStar: Watson (common)
Category: Summon Monster
Power: Strong

Thanks to all participants of the first ever NanoStar Siege competition.
Correct kill count at 10th May 10.00 GMT was: 278,123,128 units

Check Out Who Won: http://budurl.com/CompetitionWinner

Royal Ruling removes all active global effects from both players. This makes it indispensable both in offense and defense play. Royal Ruling is an essential Hero against defenses that use nasty slow-down Heroes like Misplaced Loyalty, Truce, Change of… the Guard or Inflation, to name a few. In fact, since some defenses are based on the effect of these Heroes, a well-played Ruling can turn the entire fight to your favor.

NanoStar: King Bling (common)
Category: Special, instant
Power: Strong