Storm the Castle Mode: As the first player, you slide one of your factions on the board by moving it according to the orientation shown in the example (either vertically or horizontally on any of the 6 rows or columns on the board). It must “butt up” in that single move to either another faction or stronghold pushing one or more tokens already on the board by a maximum of one square; this last condition is necessary for the move to be considered valid. At the end of the move the 'last move' Bastion marker is placed on the faction token just placed, this indicates that the opponent cannot cause that faction to be pushed in the next turn as it has taken up a defensive position. Alternate each player as they move their factions until they are all played for the game to end and total up the Victory Points as per the table.

This version of the game ends in 16 moves, 8 per player.​Capturing Factions: If a faction token is pushed off the board, it is captured and removed from the game. Each captured token is worth 1 point at the end of the game. If an opposing or friendly faction token is on the edge and appears to be blocking the exit of another token in an attempt to capture it, this is not in fact the case and the opposing faction token can still be captured.  Strongholds cannot be pushed off the edge of the board. Strongholds can block the capture of factions once they are on the edge of the board.Variant:  Sudden Death ModeFaction tokens can only enter the board on their 4 rows or columns and only move one square at a time orthogonally one faction at a time per player taking turns once they are on the board. The game ends as soon as one of the players moves their 8th Faction onto the board. All Victory Point (VP) scoring is the same as the “Storm the Castle” mode. All other movement, Bastion placement on the last Faction moved and Stronghold pushing rules and constraints are the same including capturing faction tokens. Factions cannot pull Strongholds but only push them.