Strategy · Tug of War
Trench Line
Spend self-rising morale on infantry charges, suppression and artillery barrages to take three trench lines while enemy reinforcements refill and counterattacks push back.
The game's own interface may still be in English.
Overview
Trench Line is a morale-economy tug of war fought across no-man's land. Morale climbs on its own at about one point a second and caps at a hundred; every order you give spends it. A charge sends four squads over the top to sprint at the enemy's front trench under fire. Suppression halves the defenders' rate of fire for six seconds so a charge arrives intact. A barrage drops eight shells on the front line and kills three to six defenders outright. Three trench lines stand between you and victory, with defender counts rising from ten to sixteen to twenty-four, and the enemy feeds a fresh reinforcement into its front trench every few seconds — stop pressing and the line heals. Taking a trench refunds twenty morale and banks your surviving attackers as its garrison, which matters because enemy counterattacks march the other way roughly every half minute and must be stopped by garrisons before they reach your home trench. Battles run three to five minutes and every order lands within seconds.
How to Play
Press Start Game. Arrow Left and Right (or Up and Down) cycle between Charge, Suppress, and Barrage; Space or a tap anywhere on the field executes the highlighted order, and the three buttons do the same directly. Watch the morale bar at the top-left and the defender count written on the front trench. Capture all three trenches to win; if a counterattack wipes your garrisons and reaches the home trench, the line breaks and you lose. P pauses and R restarts the battle.
Tips & Strategy
Never spend a charge unsuppressed once the second line is up — sixteen defenders firing at full rate will shred four squads before they cross, so pair every late-game charge with suppression and fire the suppression one breath before the charge. Barrages are most efficient as openers: knock a fresh trench from twenty-four to twenty, let morale rebuild, then suppress and charge in one combined push. Watch the counterattack timer by feel — after every capture, hold thirty-five morale in reserve for roughly half a minute, because that is when the enemy riposte comes and your new garrison is thinnest. Do not hoard: morale caps at a hundred, and every point generated past the cap is a shell you never fired. If a counterattack is mid-field and a charge is also mid-field, the charge still counts — attacks resolve independently, so trading ground for ground usually favors you since you only need three lines and they need your home.
What Makes It Distinct
There are no units to click and no map to scroll — the entire game is three buttons, one resource, and the discipline to fire them in the right order. The reinforcement trickle means inaction visibly loses ground, which turns morale management into the same forward-or-die pressure that defined the warfare it echoes.
Controls
- Keyboard
- Arrow Left/Right — pick Charge, Suppress or BarrageSpace — execute the selected orderP — pause or resumeR — restart the battle
- Mouse
- Click an order button to execute it; clicking the field executes the selected order.
- Touch
- Tap an order button to fire it; watch the morale bar to time the next one.
Features
- Morale economy that refills on its own — every order is a timing decision
- Three orders with distinct jobs: charges take ground, suppression saves lives, barrages thin defenders
- Three trench lines with rising defender counts and automatic enemy reinforcement
- Counterattacks that your captured-trench garrisons must absorb
- Capturing a trench refunds morale and banks surviving attackers as its garrison
- Three-to-five-minute battles with a clear win and a sudden-loss condition
Frequently asked questions
What does suppression actually do in Trench Line?
Suppress halves the enemy trench's rate of fire for six seconds. It kills nobody, but a charge launched under suppression typically reaches the trench with twice as many squads alive.
Why do defenders keep reappearing in the front trench?
The enemy feeds one reinforcement into its front trench every few seconds up to that line's cap. If you stop attacking, the line heals — barrages exist to knock the count down faster than it refills.
What happens when a counterattack reaches a trench I captured?
The garrison you banked there fights automatically, trading one defender per attacker on average. If the garrison collapses and the attack reaches your home trench with no garrison left, the battle is lost.