Clash of Crests - The Friar's Scepter is a turn-based strategy expansion for the medieval hex wargame Clash of Crests on PC. It adds a focused single-player campaign built around the story of Friar Aldwin the Unshod and his iron-shod scepter, along with new units and battles that integrate into the base game's systems.
Gameplay
The core loop centers on structured turns across hex-grid battlefields where terrain, range, facing, and formation determine outcomes. Each turn follows seven fixed phases that cover bow fire, crossbow fire, siege weapons, movement, a second bow volley, melee, and recovery. Units act only in their eligible phases, and empty phases skip automatically to keep the pace tight.
Players manage named leaders, knights, infantry, archers, and siege engines within point budgets. Losses carry forward in campaigns, so keeping veterans alive matters more than raw numbers. The Friar's Scepter expansion introduces the Order of the Reed faction, moor-folk units, and thirteen creatures from beneath the barrows, expanding the roster to thirty-eight new options that fit the existing phase structure.
One special weapon appears in the content and can be used exactly once per playthrough, adding a limited high-impact choice during key moments. Terrain effects and dynamic encounters remain consistent with the base rules, so new units interact with the same facing and formation mechanics.
Game Modes
Campaign mode chains battles into linked stories with persistent consequences. The Friar's Scepter campaign runs three main chapters titled Embers at Reedmere, The Wildling Weald, and The Unspent Wrath. Six additional standalone battles accompany it, two of which function as delve side quests into barrows and tithe cellars.
Scenario mode lets players set up individual battles with custom unit selections and victory conditions such as victory points, kill thresholds, or turn limits. Multiplayer supports two to eight participants through hotseat on one machine, LAN, or online connections, with the new units and maps available across these options.
Training scenarios and branching story tools from recent base-game updates further support practice and experimentation with the expanded roster.
Campaign and Story Elements
The narrative follows the buried scepter and the Ashen Abbot's search, unfolding through the three-chapter structure and side quests. Persistent unit losses across battles create a sense of ongoing war rather than isolated fights. The expansion keeps the focus on tactical decisions within the seven-phase system while introducing faction-specific units that reward careful positioning and phase timing.
Delve maps add underground elements and traps that interact with the existing terrain and encounter rules, giving the new creatures distinct roles without changing core mechanics.
Is It Worth Playing?
This expansion suits players who enjoy deliberate, phase-driven hex wargames and linked campaign stories where unit survival carries weight. The added campaign and thirty-eight units provide fresh content for the base game's scenarios and multiplayer sessions once the DLC releases on November 12, 2026.
With no user reviews available yet, the value depends on interest in the medieval tactical style and willingness to learn the seven-phase sequence. Those already invested in Clash of Crests will find the new Order of the Reed forces and delve battles a direct extension of the existing systems.
