Armenian Spear Rush into Fast Castle Relic Control
Steps 14 · 6 → 28 pop · ~16 min
Recommended Civilizations
Poke with early Spearmen to deny the enemy opening, then Fast Castle into a Fortified Church that floods the map with Warrior Priests and locks down the relics.
Step Timeline
Follow the villager rail and resource-split columns while you play.
11 
9 
3 Castle 28 vils 15:40 11 9 5 Opening
11 steps · pop 6–26Bld - 6 6000
6 → sheep under the TC - 10 6400
+4 → wood (build a Lumber Camp) - 11 7400 +1 → lure the 1st boar
- 11 7401
+1 → House, then a front Barracks, then a House; start a slow wall ↳ Front-place the Barracks for the Spear pressure
- 14 9401
+2 → boar under the TC; optionally lure the deer with your Scout - 15 10401 +1 → 2nd boar
- 17 12401 +2 → boar under the TC
- 17 12401
Queue 2-3 Spearmen and harass alongside the Scout ↳ Spears deny enemy Scouts while you keep climbing
- 23 16403
+6 → berries (build a Mill); pull 2 hunters onto the wall (3 walling vils total) - 26 11933
+3 → gold; move 5 food villagers to wood (9 on wood); seed Farms - 26 11933
Research Loom
Feudal
2 steps · pop 26 12:10Bld - 26 11933 Click Feudal Age 12:10
↳ Eco split ~9 wood / 11 food / 3 gold
- 26 11933
Feudal: send walling villagers to stragglers; build a Market + Blacksmith with 3 of them
Castle
1 steps · pop 28 15:40Bld - 28 11953
+2 → gold; click Castle Age. Research Double-Bit Axe and Horse Collar 15:40
Strategy Notes
- The two or three early Spearmen plus your Scout are a low-cost insurance package: they shut down an opponent's Scout opening and buy the time your Fast Castle needs, without bleeding real resources off the climb.
- Wall as you go. A slow palisade with three villagers around the boar and hunt keeps the build safe so the Spear pressure never has to convert into a full defensive stand.
- Out of Castle Age, drop a Fortified Church in a defensible spot and immediately spam Warrior Priests — their job is to grab relics, not to fight. Aim to lock down as many as six relics for a long gold trickle that funds everything that follows.
- Take Bow Saw early so the wood economy keeps up with non-stop Warrior Priest and building production, on top of the Double-Bit Axe and Horse Collar you queued on the way up.
- This is an Armenian-only plan: their Fortified Church and Warrior Priests are what make the relic lockdown possible, so the build does not transfer to other civilizations.
- Relic income is a slow burn — protect the Church and the priests with walls and a few Spearmen, and convert the steady gold into whatever Castle Age army your matchup demands.