Kings or Commons walkthrough: every ending and how to reach it

A GUIDE TO KINGS OR COMMONS · 1 NOVEMBER 2026

Kings or Commons is short, but it keeps score more closely than it lets on. Every choice nudges one of four numbers, and the number that matters most at the end is standing. This guide covers what each scene gives you, how the fights are decided, and what it takes to reach each of the four endings on either side.

If you’d rather find all that out for yourself, stop reading after the next section.

THE FOUR ENDINGS

The game ends one of four ways, and three of them depend only on your standing when you leave the last chapter:

Your rank on the way is also set by standing: pikeman at 5, corporal at 10, serjeant at 16, ensign at 22, lieutenant at 29, captain at 37, major at 45, colonel at 54 and general at 62. If you take whatever comes first in every scene, you’ll finish somewhere around 35, right on the line for a colonel. The top ending needs you to chase standing on almost every choice.

WHAT YOU START WITH

You begin with 20 health, 2 steel, 2 wit, no standing and 2 shillings. Between chapters you heal 6 health, and your maximum health rises by 2. You can’t leave Much Wenlock without picking a side.

CHAPTER 1: MUCH WENLOCK

This chapter is for getting your stats moving before the war starts.

• The Guildhall. Asking the clerk gives you wit and standing. Listening gives wit only.
• Wenlock Priory. Praying gives 1 standing. Taking the lead gives 2 shillings, which matters more than it looks: it pays for the blade at the smithy, or for the King’s mint later.
• The Smithy. Working the bellows gives 2 steel. Buying the blade costs 3 shillings and gives 3 steel. Steel decides your fights and opens the cavalry choices later on.
• The King’s Serjeant or the Carrier from Nantwich. Taking the shilling puts you on the King’s side, and going north with the carrier puts you on Parliament’s. Both give 2 standing. The carrier also gives 1 wit, and the shilling gives 1 shilling.

A good start: take the lead from the Priory, buy the blade at the smithy, then ask the clerk at the Guildhall. You leave with 5 steel, which is enough for both horse charges.

CHAPTER 2: SHREWSBURY OR NANTWICH

The two muster towns are built the same way, five scenes each, but the choices differ.

Shrewsbury (the King’s road):

• The Muster Field. Drilling gives 3 steel. Studying the serjeant gives 2 wit and 1 standing.
• The Mint. Offering your lead costs 1 shilling and gives 2 standing. Pocketing a cup gives 4 shillings but costs 2 standing.
• Prince Rupert. Volunteering for the horse needs 4 steel and gives 2 steel and 3 standing. It’s the best single choice in the chapter.
• The Oath. Meaning it gives 3 standing. Noting what it doesn’t say gives 3 wit.
• The Baggage Train. Helping the wounded gives 1 wit and 2 standing. Learning which water is safe heals 4.

Nantwich (Parliament’s road):

• The Trained Band. Drilling gives 3 steel. Learning to give orders gives 2 wit and 1 standing.
• The Press. Carrying bundles gives 2 standing and 1 shilling. Reading every sheet gives 3 wit.
• The Covenant Men. Speaking up gives 2 wit and 2 standing, so it’s the pick here.
• The Oath and the Surgeon’s Cart work exactly as they do at Shrewsbury.

Parliament’s road has more standing on offer here, while the King’s road has the horse.

CHAPTER 3: EDGEHILL, OCTOBER 1642

• Rupert’s Charge is the first real test of character. Riding off for loot needs 5 steel and gives 5 shillings, but costs 2 standing. Turning back to the fight alone gives 4 standing for 3 health. For a high ending, turn back.
• The Push of Pike is your first fight (see below).
• The Cold Night. Bringing water gives 3 standing for 2 health. Stripping the dead gives shillings and steel but costs standing.

CHAPTER 4: MARSTON MOOR, JULY 1644

• Cromwell’s Horse. Riding with them needs 5 steel and gives 2 steel and 4 standing. Without the steel, holding the foot together still gives 2 steel and 2 standing.
• The Whitecoats are the second fight.
• The Prince’s Dog. Laughing at the pamphlets gives 2 wit with no cost. The other option gives more wit but costs 1 standing.
• After the Moor. Taking the promotion gives 4 standing.

CHAPTER 5: NASEBY, JUNE 1645

• The New Model. Taking a commission needs 12 standing and gives 4 standing and 1 steel. You’ll have well over 12 by now if you’ve been playing for standing.
• The Sunken Lane is the third and hardest fight.
• The Turn. Both choices give standing. Doing your part gives 3 standing and 3 steel for 3 health, while calling for quarter gives 2 standing and 2 wit.
• The Baggage Train. Stopping what you can gives 3 standing for 2 health. Looking away costs 2 standing.
• The King’s Cabinet. Refusing to read the letters gives 2 standing.

CHAPTER 6: OXFORD OR WHITEHALL

This is where the top ending is won or lost, because the final chapter has some of the biggest standing rewards in the game.

Oxford (the King’s road):

• The Court at Christ Church. Keeping your regiment close gives 3 steel and 4 standing. Buying a title needs 8 shillings and gives 5 standing.
• The King’s Word. Gathering men who feel as you do gives 3 wit and 3 standing.
• The Army Unpaid. Paying them yourself needs 6 shillings and gives 6 standing, the single biggest reward in the game. Speaking for them at court gives 4 standing for nothing.
• The Crown Itself. Kneeling gives 2 standing.

Whitehall (Parliament’s road):

• The High Court. Standing guard gives 3 wit and 2 standing.
• The Thirtieth of January. Thinking about who rules now gives 3 standing.
• The Levellers at Burford. Approving gives 3 standing. Speaking for them costs 2.
• The Rump Dissolved. Marching in behind Cromwell gives 4 standing.
• The Crown Refused. Making yourself useful gives 4 standing.

On the King’s road, money is standing in the last chapter, so it pays to keep some shillings in your purse. If you can arrive at Oxford with 8 or more, buy the title.

HOW THE FIGHTS WORK

Each fight is a run of turns. On your turn you pick one of four actions, and then the enemy swings.

• Strike rolls a die plus your steel against a die plus their skill, and lands on a tie or better. A hit does 2 damage, plus 1 for every 2 steel you have.
• Guard gives up your attack, but the enemy needs a 3 higher roll to hit you next turn.
• Parley rolls a die plus your wit, and works if the total reaches 7 plus their skill. It wins the fight outright and gives 2 standing.
• Give ground rolls a die plus your wit, and works on 6 or more. You live, but you lose 1 standing.

Winning by force gives 3 standing and 1 steel, so it’s worth more than a parley.

The enemy hits you if a die plus their skill reaches 6. The King’s Foot, with skill 5, hits you every turn you don’t guard. When you guard, they need a 4 or better, so they hit half the time.

What that means in practice:

• Steel matters more than anything else in a fight. With 5 steel you hit the Pike Block most of the time and do 4 damage a hit, so it falls in three blows. With 2 steel you do 3 damage, so it takes four hits, and you miss more often.
• Parley is for wit builds. Against the Pike Block you need at least 4 wit to have any chance, and 9 to be sure. Against the King’s Foot you need at least 6 wit.
• Give ground is certain at 5 wit. It’s your safety net if a fight goes badly, at the cost of a single point of standing.
• Fight at full health. You heal between chapters, so if a fight is near the start of a chapter, avoid choices that cost health before it.

A ROUTE TO THE TOP ENDING

This route reaches the top ending on Parliament’s side, finishing on 67 standing if you win all three fights by force.

1. Much Wenlock: take the lead, buy the blade, ask the clerk, then go north with the carrier.
2. Nantwich: learn to give orders, carry bundles, speak to the Covenant men, swear the oath and mean it, and help the surgeon.
3. Edgehill: keep your place, turn back to the fighting, win the Push of Pike, and bring water to the wounded.
4. Marston Moor: stand in the rye, ride with Cromwell’s horse, beat the Whitecoats, and take the promotion.
5. Naseby: take the commission, win in the lane, do your part, stop what you can, and refuse the letters.
6. Whitehall: stand guard, think about who rules now, approve at Burford, march in behind him, and make yourself useful.

Chance comes into it in the fights, so if you’re unlucky, guard more and strike less. The Chronicle, on X, fills in as you go either way.

▶ PLAY KINGS OR COMMONS

The controls, the story so far and how the game was made are on the Kings or Commons page.

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