Questions and answers

It is an isometric real-time strategy game set in the Commonwealth in 1764. You pick one of six armies of the age, pitch your camp, haul Red Saltpetre and take villages and towns that bring in gold. In a skirmish, whoever destroys the enemy Headquarters wins. On top of that there are two other battle modes and a campaign with Hetman Branicki. You play on phones and on PC.

The title names the stakes: in the election of 1764, powder decides who gets the crown. The game is made by a one-person studio in Poland, on its own engine, and the author calls it a personal tribute to Knights and Merchants.

Genre

Isometric RTS

Setting

The Commonwealth, 1764

Studio

Mikołaj Ślęzak Brickweavers, Poland

The background is real; what follows is not. On 5 October 1763 Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, dies. In April 1764 Russia and Prussia conclude an alliance, and in September, at Wola, the nobility elect the Empress’s candidate, Stanisław August Poniatowski. In the game, history takes a different turn before the election: the Saxons and most of the Crown army take up arms against Russia’s candidate, and powder decides the crown.

Uniforms, weapons, formations, villages and the sound of the battlefield are based on period sources and the work of historians. In the research notes, the author marks what is uncertain, where the sources disagree and what was invented for the game.

The game itself has a Chronicle: more than 100 entries on troops, weapons, people and places, with sources.

Powder & Crown is historical fiction. From December 1763, events in the game run differently from the history books, so the states and factions bear changed names. The originals are easy to recognise:

• Crimson Coalition: the Crown, with Saxon auxiliaries
• Siberian Diktat: Russia
• Brandenburg Protectorate: Prussia
• Meissen March: Saxony
• Crescent Porte: Turkey
• Alpine Archduchy: Austria
• Magnate Familia: the Czartoryski party, as an opponent only

The regions have real names: the Crown, Saxony, Brandenburg and Podolia. Maps take their names from places such as Kunersdorf, Torgau and Khotyn. The cities on the city maps have real names too, for example Warsaw, Kraków and Dresden, and so do the historical figures in the campaign, such as Hetman Branicki and Prince Xavier.

Each nation has its own uniforms, units, music and superweapon, along with its strengths and weaknesses. Protectorate musketeers fire almost 40% more often, but with a weaker volley. The March has one of the finest artilleries of the age, but 15% less gold. The Archduchy pays 20% less for artillery, but takes 25% longer to train infantry, cavalry and artillery. The Porte has no guard whose formation can withstand a flank charge, and its granaries give 10% more gold.

All nations, units and superweapons

Android phones first, then iPhone, and finally PC and Mac via Steam. On phones, the free app gives you the tutorial and skirmishes, and the full game, bought once, adds the rest: all nations, maps and battle modes, Act I of the campaign and two-player mode over Wi-Fi.

1. 1 · Google Play

   Android

   A free app with the tutorial and skirmishes; the full game with one purchase.

2. 2 · App Store

   iOS

   The same game on the same terms, for iPhone.

3. 3 · Steam

   PC and Mac

   With Act I of the campaign.

You can play the demo in your browser now. The game is planned to come to Android by the end of 2026, then to iOS, PC and Mac in 2027. Dates are approximate and may shift.

1. NowDemo in the browser
2. 2026Android, Google Play
3. 2027iOS, App Store
4. 2027PC and Mac, Steam, with Act I of the campaign

On phones, both Android and iOS, the app is free: it has the tutorial and skirmishes between the Coalition and the Diktat. The full game, with the campaign, all nations, maps and modes and two-player mode, is unlocked with a single purchase. There are no ads and no subscription. On Steam, Act I of the campaign is included in the price, and Acts II⁠–⁠IV are to follow as expansions. Prices are planned and may change.

Phone

US$3.99

the full game with one purchase; €3.99, £3.99, PLN 14.99

PC and Mac (Steam)

US$14.99

with Act I of the campaign

Acts II⁠–⁠IV

Expansions

planned on Steam

The game has no ads, no subscription and no analytics tools. The only purchase on phones is the full game: you buy it once, on Google Play or the App Store, and the store handles the payment. On Steam, the later campaign acts, II to IV, are to come out as separate expansions.

Yes. Act I is seven missions of the war for the crown in 1764. As Colonel Jan Hordyński and his retinue, you lead a regiment from the border through Warsaw, Nesvizh, Słonim and Białystok to the election field at Wola. Between missions, cutscenes feature Hetman Branicki, Prince Radziwiłł and Prince Xavier, voiced in Polish and English, and a prologue made of period paintings opens the whole campaign.

On phones, the campaign is part of the full game, and on Steam, Act I is included in the price. Acts II⁠–⁠IV are planned as expansions.

More about the campaign

Apart from the campaign, you play battles against the computer in three modes:

Skirmish

You build a camp and an economy, and whoever destroys the enemy Headquarters wins.

Hold the Field

You hold the villages, towns and the key position at the centre of the map. Whoever tips the scales wins; at dusk, victory goes to the side the scales lean towards.

Pitched Battle

A battle in the open field, with no camp or economy: both armies are of equal value and come into action in three lines.

Before a battle you set:

Difficulty

Easy, Normal or Hard

Sides

Your nation and the enemy’s; the Magnate Familia only on the enemy side

Terrain

Plains, Crossing, Lakeland or Forest, or one of the seven city maps of 1764: Warsaw, Left-bank Warsaw, Kraków, Dresden, Kamieniec Podolski, Nesvizh and Białystok

Season

Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter

Region

Crown, Saxony, Brandenburg, Podolia or the region of one of the warring nations

The cities are rebuilt from plans of the period. The other battlefields are laid out by the generator, and the “Reroll” button gives you a different layout.

Yes, in two-player mode (Two players in the game menu). Both devices must be on the same Wi-Fi network. The host sets up a battle and sends a code by any means, for example a messaging app, and the guest pastes it in and sends their own code back. From then on the game runs directly between the devices, with no server at all. Online play with a room code is in testing. On phones, two-player mode is part of the full game.

On a touchscreen, tap a unit, then the ground to march there or an enemy to attack. A quick double tap on a unit selects every unit of that type on screen. Drag a finger to move the map and pinch with two fingers to zoom.

With a mouse, the left button draws a selection box, the right button deselects and the wheel zooms the map. Whichever way you play, you have the Whole army, Box select and Rally point buttons.

WASDarrow keys

move the map

Space

pause

M

sound

Esc

back

N

music

V

unit voices

Z

the “Follow me!” cry in the campaign

H

select the Colonel

Yes, automatically. A battle is saved every 15 seconds, and also when you switch to another app or close the game. When you come back, the Resume battle button is waiting in the menu. The save stays on your device and is deleted when the battle ends or you start a new one. There is no saving in two-player games.

An interrupted campaign mission resumes just like a battle, and the game remembers completed missions on your device.

On a phone you need Android 7.0 or newer with an up-to-date WebView (version 88 or newer), the system component the game is displayed in. The game works offline, and you can play in portrait or landscape. The characters are rendered from 3D models in Blender, in 8 directions. We will give the requirements for the iOS, PC and Mac versions before they are released.

System

Android 7.0+

WebView

88+

Screen

Portrait and landscape

Yes. The fonts are built in, the game’s synthesiser creates the sounds and music, and the recorded unit voices and campaign cutscenes are inside the app itself. The game needs no account and has no ads or analytics. You only need the internet to buy the full game in the store; after that, it works offline too. Two-player mode works over Wi-Fi, with no server; online play with a room code is in testing.

Polish and English. On a phone set to English, the game switches to English by itself, and you can change the language in Settings. German and Spanish are already translated: you can play the browser demo in them now, and they will come to the apps later. The campaign cutscenes are voiced in Polish and in English. In Polish the game is called Proch i Korona; in other languages it is Powder & Crown.

Units speak the languages in which they would have heard orders in the field:

Winged hussars, uhlans, Bosniaks	Polish
Coalition infantry, dragoons and artillery	replies in Polish, words of command in German
The Protectorate, the March, Meissen auxiliaries	German
The Archduchy	German with a Viennese accent; Grenzers in Croatian, hussars in Hungarian
The Porte, Crimean Tatars	Turkish
The Diktat	Russian
Kalmyks	no words, only battle cries

You can turn the voices off with the V key or in Settings.

The music is played by the game’s synthesiser: the pieces are written out as notes and arranged in code, not recorded by an orchestra. Each nation has its own theme, and alongside melodies in the style of the period you hear real public-domain works. The scores come from the Mutopia Project and from scans of old editions, held among others by the Jagiellonian Library and the Bavarian State Library.

Coalition	polonaises by Bach and Ogiński, the “Kościuszko Polonaise”
Diktat	Bortniansky and Kozłowski
Protectorate	Bach’s “Brandenburg Concertos” and Prussian marches
March	Hasse and Telemann
Porte	the mehter and the war song “Ceng-i harbî”, written down in the 17th century by Wojciech Bobowski (Ali Ufkî)
Archduchy	Haydn and Mozart
Familia	a polonaise by Kozłowski and a mazurka played by a janissary band
Menu and battle	Handel, and after a defeat Mozart or Handel

In your browser, right here on this site. It is free, with no account, no install and no ads. The demo works on a computer and on a phone (best held sideways) in an up-to-date Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari. Before the first battle it downloads about 20 MB. Your saved battle and settings stay in your browser on that device.

The same as in the free app on phones: the tutorial and skirmishes between the Coalition and the Diktat on the plains of the Crown in summer, at three difficulty levels. The full game adds the other nations, the city maps, the other terrain types, seasons and regions, the Hold the Field and Pitched Battle modes, Act I of the campaign and two-player mode.

Write to contact@powderandcrown.com. The game is made by a one-person studio, so your message goes straight to the author. Use the same address for privacy matters too.

You will find materials for articles and videos on the Press kit page, together with the terms for using them. Send questions from editors and creators to contact@powderandcrown.com.