Stick War and Stick War 2: Order Empire — What Changed and Which to Play

Stick War started as a Flash game on Stickpage.com, the site that grew out of stick-figure animation in the 2000s. It turned into one of the best-known strategy games of the Flash era and a series that is still going on phones. Here is how the two browser games on this site fit together, and what changed between them.

Stick War (2009)

The first game sets up the world. Inamorta is split between nations that each worship one weapon: the Archidons the bow, the Swordwrath the sword, the Speartons the spear and shield, the Magikill magic, and the Giants their size. You rule Order, the nation that decides to learn every way of fighting by conquering all the others. The campaign is a map of those nations, taken one battle at a time, with a briefing scroll before each fight — the first one simply says to train units, attack the country of Archidon and destroy its monument.

Mechanically it is a side-on real-time strategy game on a single lane. Miners bring gold, gold buys units, units walk right and fight, and the first statue to fall loses. The twist that made it famous is control: click any single unit and you play it yourself, walking and fighting inside a battle the rest of your army is fighting on its own orders. Three difficulties — Normal, Hard and Insane — and a set of upgrades between battles round it out. The version on this site is v1.2, the Flash original, running on Ruffle.

Stick War 2: Order Empire (2012)

The sequel picks up after Order’s victory. Its opening tutorial explains that many of the empires you once controlled have fled to the outskirts of their homelands and live as rebels, and that the Speartons have rebuilt and declared war on your diminished army. Everything is bigger. The art is redrawn with full painted title screens, the battlefield shows your whole army at once, and you select units by dragging a box over them — the first thing the tutorial teaches.

The unit list keeps the familiar names — Swordwrath, Archidons, Speartons, Magikill, Giants — and adds more types and upgrades on top. The campaign map, three difficulties (Normal, Hard, Insane) and a save slot are still there, and the main menu adds an online mode that relied on the game’s own servers. That mode belongs to the past; the campaign plays in full. Stick War 2: Order Empire has its own page here.

Which one should you play first?

Start with the original. It is shorter, the controls are simpler, and it teaches the rules the whole series still uses: miners first, counter what the enemy builds, never let your statue stand alone. Its six units fit on one bar, and a battle on Normal takes a few minutes. Then move to Stick War 2 for the bigger armies, the box selection and a longer campaign.

And Stick War: Legacy?

Stick War: Legacy is the later version for phones and tablets, with its own modes and progression. It is a separate app and is not on this site. Both games here are the original browser releases, and nothing on this page pretends otherwise.

Stick War and Stick War 2 belong to their creators at Stickpage.com. This is an independent fan site and is not affiliated with them. Want to be ready before you start? The Stick War strategy guide covers every unit and its price.