I'm assuming we all know that in 1415, King Henry V of England found himself stuck, essentially, between a rock and a hard place. I also take it for granted that we know the French army had blocked his advance to Calais, and the only other option being to retreat back to the heavily fortified town of Hesdin. It's likely common knowledge that the very outnumbered King had an estimated 80% of his army composed of archers. And it's probably unnecessary to point out that the attack from the archers pretty much obliterated the French in record time. So I'll skip all that stuff and get right to it.

In Deadtree Defender, a Flash game from Skyrocket Interactive, take control of a single archer whom, joined by two automated team-mates, are set to the seemingly impossible task of defending a withered, leafless old tree against an increasingly large opposition.

Use a combination of mouse and cursor keys for control. The mouse controls the angle of trajectory as well as the range and speed of the arrows you shoot. The longer the mouse button is pressed before release the faster and farther the arrow will travel. Use the cursor keys to move your character by walking, ducking, jumping, and climbing your way around the structure to avoid being hit by enemy projectiles.

Beginning largely ahead of your enemy on a three tiered structure, you rain down a white storm of arrows onto your slow and unprotected enemy. However as the levels advance you will find that your opponent is not as simple as you once assumed. Controlling basic knowledge of carpentry skills, rudimentary construction techniques and a certain understanding of classic timber-frame design, in short time they have what appears to be the foundations of a structure. Soon enough, they've mastered their own version of split level design and have even added an open veranda... and they don't stop there.

The game is split into three sections—easy, medium, and hard—and these 3 difficulty settings are all part of one continuous story. In easy mode the enemy will start on an open plain and begin building its defences and, at a certain point into it, you'll be declared the winner. Switching to medium mode will have them start out in the building you've just seen them construct and they build on top of that. Hard is similar but with a bigger fortification, which they still build upon even more.

You may notice the enemy's methods of attack do not change. The rock throwers throw rocks and the Medusas still throw snakes, always. However, since they will always begin in the bottom right and as their base grows you will have to re-evaluate how you aim, where you aim and how long you draw for.

Unfortunately, the replay value of this game is arguably low once completed, but you may find yourself revisiting the same scenario over again during play with a slightly more complex and expanding army to defend against. It is a wonderfully silhouetted and gorgeous game.

Play Deadtree Defender

Oye, another defense game. This one is indeed beautiful and the way the enemy builds its structure as a means of increasing difficulty is a nice approach. The gameplay is a simplified version of the Bowmaster games that made this type of game popular, but the lack of feedback as to the power with which I was firing arrows made the game just a bit too frustrating for me.

Thanks to Redklonoa for the link!