Barnstorm Factions: Lion Order, Falcon Sultanate and Alchemists

The Barnstorm factions are the first thing you notice in your card collection: armored knights on crimson, desert riders on teal, and alchemists on brass. Every card belongs to the Lion Order, the Falcon Sultanate or the Alchemists' Guild, and each one wants to fight its own way. This guide covers how each one plays, its key cards and legendaries, and how to mix all three in one eight-card deck.

Those are the cards you collect directly; fusion cards, made mid-battle, come on top. You don't have to pick a side: Desert Outpost, the first arena, already gives you cards from all three.

Lion Order: hold the line, then push#

The Lion Order is heavy armor that walks forward. It is slow to get going, but once a knight is soaking hits up front with archers firing behind him, it is very hard to stop. Lion decks tend to defend first, turn the survivors into a push, and finish with a siege card.

Also worth knowing: Pikemen (4 Ember) deal double damage to cavalry and beasts, a natural answer to the Sultanate's camels, horses, elephants and hounds. The Trebuchet (4) lobs boulders across the river at troops and Bastions but can't hit anything close.

The weak spot: Longbowmen are the only Lion Order card that hits flying troops, and the Order has no spells at all.

In this Short, the Battering Ram slams a tower, two Squires climb out when it breaks, and a fusion with the Naphtha Thrower then sets it on fire.

It has never had a single thought 🐏 #shorts

Falcon Sultanate: speed, reach and surprise#

The Sultanate has more fast troops than any other faction. Raiders flank, falcons fly over walls, an invisible assassin slips past towers, and a War Elephant flattens what is left. Falcon decks like to pressure early and keep the opponent reacting.

At 7 Ember the War Elephant is the most expensive card you can put in a deck, so plan your Ember around it. Desert Raiders (3), Blade Dancer (4) and the Naphtha Thrower (4) round out the damage.

Meet Gerald, a War Elephant with one job: walk to the castle and ignore everything else, while Steve, the archer on his back, deals with the birds.

Meet Gerald. He hates crowds. 🐘 #shorts

Alchemists' Guild: spells, contraptions and fusion fuel#

Of the three Barnstorm factions, the Guild is the neutral one. It fields tools more than armies: six of the game's seven spells, cheap buildings, a clockwork giant and bombs. Guild cards fit almost any deck, and six of the nine public fusion recipes use at least one of them.

Also look at Greek Fire (4 Ember), which burns an area for 8 seconds and slows enemies inside.

Legendary cards of the Barnstorm factions#

There are four legendaries, and all of them join your card pool at Legends' Siege, the seventh arena, at 3,000 trophies.

The Lionheart (Lion Order, 5 Ember)#

Every allied troop within 4 tiles of his banner strikes 25% faster. He doesn't get the bonus himself, so pair him with troops that hit often, like Squires.

The Falcon Sultan (Falcon Sultanate, 5 Ember)#

When he arrives, he shields himself and every ally nearby, and each foe his sweeping scimitar fells restores some of his health. Drop him into a fight already underway to get the most from the shield.

Shadow Blade (Falcon Sultanate, 3 Ember)#

An assassin who stays invisible until he strikes and vanishes again about a second after his last blow. Towers and troops can't target him while he's hidden.

Grand Alchemist (Alchemists' Guild, 4 Ember)#

He throws healing potions at wounded allies and damage potions at everyone else, hitting air and ground. While he is alive on the field, every fusion card costs you 1 Ember less, whatever its faction.

Mixing Barnstorm factions in one deck#

There is no faction rule in deckbuilding. A deck is eight different cards you own, from any faction, and you can keep three decks saved. The starter deck shows the idea: Lion Knight, Longbowmen, Squires and Battering Ram from the Lion Order, Hunting Falcons and Desert Raiders from the Sultanate, and Fire Pot and Arrow Volley from the Guild.

Mixing the Barnstorm factions pays off in three ways:

• You cover weak spots. A Lion front line gets air defense from a Sultanate card and spells from the Guild.

• Fusions cross factions. Longbowmen and Fire Pot make Fire Archers; Battering Ram and Naphtha Thrower make the Fire Ram. Every public Lion Order fusion needs a partner from another faction. Our Barnstorm fusion guide lists every public recipe.

• Daily quests reward each faction. You get three quests a day, and some ask for one faction: deploy 20 Lion Order troops (200 gold), deploy 20 Falcon Sultanate troops (200 gold) or play 8 Alchemists' Guild cards (150 gold). A mixed deck can work on whichever comes up.

A good first shape: a sturdy Lion card or two up front, one or two Guild spells, a card that hits air, and one win condition you trust. For complete lists at each trophy range, see the best Barnstorm decks.

The story behind the banners#

Story mode gives the Barnstorm factions faces, retelling our YouTube series The Stolen Queen as a longer campaign. "For ten long years, Lions and Falcons fought over this river," the opening narration says, and tonight, for the first time, there is peace. At a feast at Lion Keep, King Richard of the Lion Order, the Lionheart himself, raises a toast with Queen Rose while his squire Will hurries around with a tray.

Then Master Vesper, Grand Alchemist of the Alchemists' Guild, arrives with a gift for the peace: Peach phones for both kings. At midnight, riders in falcon colors attack. By dawn the queen's room is empty, and a falcon feather and the Sultan's seal lie in front of the keep. Richard blames Sultan Kadir.

Across the river you'll meet Kadir and his falcon Zafir, his sister and spymaster Princess Yasmin, and Captain Leila of the Falcon Guard. Both sides are written as proud and honorable. Story mode tells the rest over nine chapters; our Barnstorm game modes guide explains how it fits next to ladder battles.

Part 1 of The Stolen Queen, told with real game footage, shows the night the queen is taken and King Richard marching his army on the Falcon Sultan.

The Stolen Queen (Part 1) 👑 Lions vs Falcons

Which of the Barnstorm factions should you play?#

All of them, a little. The Lion Order holds, the Sultanate strikes fast, and the Guild bends the fight with spells and fusions. Learn what each does well, then build eight cards that cover each other's gaps.

Barnstorm is free to play on Google Play, and the iPhone version is coming soon. See the cards, arenas and modes at barnstorm.softick.dev.

Watch more on our YouTube channel, Softick Development.