One of the more important buildings to take control of is the Mage Tower. Gaining control of the Mage Tower gives you the ability to cast spells. The first available spell is the Fireball, which can directly attack enemy buildings. There is a charge-up associated with the use of the spell -- after being used, you must wait for a short time before re-using it.

Hovering over an enemy building will show an approximation of that building's unit strength, rather than specific numbers. To get the specific number of units, you'll need to commandeer the Scout Tower. It should be noted that when an enemy building is conquered, its colors change to yours, so you know it's under your control. The enemy will attempt to regain control of their former buildings, so it's important to leave a garrison of troops in any captured building.

The other important element of KingMania is in the upgrading of buildings. Each building you control will have various hierarchical upgrades that will help you in your pursuit of victory. The castle, possibly the most important building, has the most upgrades available. You can upgrade the strength of the walls, providing more of a defense against attacking units; you can upgrade the kitchen, which makes knight generation increase in speed; and you can upgrade the magical defense. Each upgrade makes the succeeding upgrade possible; you can't get to the Watch Tower upgrade, for instance, until you get the Castle Walls upgrade. Each upgrade displays the necessary amount of resources needed to purchase the upgrade.

The villages also have upgrades for building defense, peasant generation, and food production, but it also offers individual hero unit generation, like the Croaker, a more powerful unit that resembles the classic Frankenstein's monster. You can also choose to upgrade the peasants themselves with the Berzerker upgrade, which makes each peasant more warrior-like.

The Mage Tower also gets a few upgrades, from strengthening the walls to reducing the amount of time it takes for a spell to recharge. Though not in the demo, presumably new spells may also be purchased. Finally, the mine can be upgraded to make the mining go faster and more efficiently, increasing gold yield.

The final consideration is in deciding what percentage of sequestered troops you want to have attack at any given time. This is controlled by a line of five red boxes below the icons representing troop strength. The default is set at three, which means that 60% of the buildings units will leave to attack, leaving 40% behind for defense. Never leave a building undefended, as it's ripe for enemy takeover.

Though relatively simple, KingMania offers quick rounds of medieval action, as each level is staged around gaining ground in a series of skirmishes, viewable on the countryside map. The constant back-and-forth nature of gaining and losing control of various buildings makes for some fun, and watching the Croaker stomp his way over to a nearby target building is adorable. You can grab KingMania right here on Big Download for both Mac and PC.