In the Dark Ages enemy kingdoms battled using the powerful crossbow and the mighty catapult. - game slogan

In 1983, Lakeside Games¹ released what was to become one of their bestselling titles. Crossbows & Catapults was a boxed game, not unlike other miniature war games such as 'Risk', but with a difference. It involved skill, chance, building and destruction. As such it was an instant hit. The game revolved around two players using a mini crossbow and catapult with appropriate ammunition to knock down their opponent's castle, and capture their treasure.

What's Inside the Box?

Just like chess, it's a two-player game. The red and cream coloured pieces represent the Vikings, while the grey and blue pieces represent the Barbarians. There are two game mats set out like the courtyard of a castle, with a moat, drawbridge, and in the centre, a treasure chest. Viking treasure is a golden glowing sword and the Barbarian treasure is a purple glowing bejewelled goblet.

There is a castle tower (complete with heavy wooden door, arched window, and battlements) placed on top of the treasure in order to hide it. Each side also has eight appropriately coloured inch-high plastic figurines modelled like Vikings or Barbarians (which, if you are of an artistic bent, you can paint), five flags, 12 castle bricks, 12 'caroms' (see below), and of course, one catapult and one crossbow.

The Catapult

The catapult - brown plastic moulded to look wooden - is good for long-range attacks, but invariably inaccurate. Powered by an elastic band, its action is simple. A carom is placed on a '+'-shaped part of the lever which you pull back and then simply let go, the torsion from the elastic band propelling your missile at the enemy. The catapult is fantastic at knocking flags and figurines off battlements, but really rubbish at knocking down well-built defences. As for landing a carom on the hidden treasure - forget it! Well, maybe not. It is possible with a well-aimed shot to knock a tower over and land that carom onto the treasure in one.

The Crossbow

Again made of brown plastic, the crossbow is extremely powerful. The little machine lies flat on the ground, and you place a carom between its jaws, pulling back an elasticated firing mechanism to shoot it across the floor towards your enemy's defences. The elastic band that comes with the game allows for good range and power, but if you want some extra oomph, the ones in the kitchen drawer are a major upgrade. The crossbow works best against walls and towers, and if you get the torsion just right you can slide a carom onto the hidden treasure nicely.

Caroms

The 'caroms', or battle tokens, are the ammunition for your crossbows and catapults. The red caroms belong to the Vikings, and have nice little stickers with appropriately snarly Vikings in helmets with horns on. The blue caroms have bearded toothy Barbarians with bowl-shaped helmets. Each side has 12 caroms, and one is identified as the 'king'. The Viking king has a yellow sunrise around the sticker face, whereas the Barbarian's is purple. Around an inch in diameter, they are made of pretty hardy plastic, and a stray shot with a catapult to the head can cause quite a nasty injury.

Building Your Kingdom

Setting up the game is quite simple. You need a nice big room with a flat surface. You place your courtyard game mats about six feet apart facing each other, and then line up four of the flags with the four corners of your game mat, sideways from where it is placed. This marks out territory where you can safely keep your ammunition and weapons. You then place your tower over your treasure and use your bricks to build up a defensive wall. Some fortifications involve the use of Lego bricks, books, and anything else that might tumble down in a fantastically noisy and destructive way when hit with a well-aimed carom. The final flag is placed atop your tower, and your figurines, well, you of course stick them through the tower window, on your crossbow or catapult, and one on top of the your 'king' carom. You are then ready to begin playing.

Playing

As with chess, white goes first (or cream in this case). A carom is fired out at your enemy. It then enters play into the 'battlefield', where it remains, unless of course you are lucky enough to make it across the six-feet-wide expanse to your enemies game-mat.

Infiltrate the Enemy Camp!

If you land your carom on your enemy's courtyard, it becomes a spy and the carom is returned to your arsenal and is replaced by one of your figurines. If you land your 'king' carom in the courtyard, he is worth two spies, but be warned, if the king ends up in the enemy moat or castle grounds², he is taken prisoner and you have lost the game! If you land any other carom on the moat or castle grounds, it is either taken prisoner or taken out of the game. The enemy commander decides which.

No Prisoners!

Prisoners are placed inside the tower (which is handy - the more prisoners you have the heavier your tower is, and less liable to fall over!). If you knock over your enemy's flag, your opponent returns the carom you launched and one prisoner. The flag is then reset and play resumes. A carom in the battlefield is fair game though. If you wish, on your turn, instead of firing at your enemy's defences, you can 'capture' one of his caroms by hitting it with one of your own, fired from either your crossbow or catapult.

Apart from that, anything goes. You, of course, take it in turns to shoot, unless of course other 'rules' are made up.

Conquering your Enemy

Other than destroying your enemy's fortifications and men with your caroms in any way conceivable, the most popular way to play is to knock the defences away to land a carom onto the hidden treasure under the tower. The first person to do so wins the game. Another way of winning is to be the first to knock over the tower. However, this is a little too easy. Alternatively, you could be the first to get four 'spies' into the courtyard, or make up many alternatives, such as using the figurines as projectiles to make them spies, or even trying to capture all of your enemy's caroms.

I loved it as a kid, however I always remember forgetting entirely about the game and rules and the like and just blasting the walls as much as possible!
- an h2g2 Researcher

Other Accessories

Due to the popularity of the game, accessories were brought out to accompany gameplay. You could get yourself an extra Castle Outpost with built-in catapult for long-range pummelling, and you could of course buy extra caroms and bricks (as they often went missing under sofas, behind doors, in the dog's stomach, etc). There were also Viking Longships that shot caroms across the floor like the crossbow, complete with sail and a special gaming card that allowed you to bring these mighty vessels into play.

Other add-ons included Battling Giants (which looked like Minotaurs) that threw caroms across the battlefield, a Battering Ram to knock down those pesky defences (this needed a good clear floor and run to do the most damage) and even a Trojan Horse set with Battle Shield that enabled you to get your spies into the enemy courtyard in a justifiably unique manner.

Perhaps the most highly sought after were the Dragons, a green one for the Vikings and a red one for the Barbarians. These would fire caroms like a catapult, but out of the mouth. Very cool! The dragon add-on also came with extra 'wizard' caroms, which added a new element to game play. If a wizard carom fell into the courtyard, you could choose what you wished to do. You could retrieve a prisoner, make the wizard a spy, or just make something up that gave you the advantage!

Play it Today?

Due to advances in computer-gaming technology and the fact that games that could possibly hurt the players became a no-no, Crossbows & Catapults was pulled off retail shelves in the mid-90s. If you're lucky you may be able to pick up a decent set at a second-hand shop (or garage sale, car-boot sale, bric-a-brac shop - you get the picture), or even online.