Stronghold Kingdoms will be a free-to-play game where gamers fight, trade, farm and negotiate their way to success, aided by the thoughtful use of strategy cards.

"Stronghold has been played by millions of gamers all over the world," said Eric Ouellette, [CEO] of Firefly Studios, "but to create even more lords and ladies we decided from the outset that Stronghold Kingdoms would be free-to-play."

Players can play the game for free and each month will receive a number of strategy cards. Each card has an impact on different elements of the game: agriculture, warfare, trading, religion and so on.

"Strategy cards are integral to the game. The skilful use of a card can be the difference between winning and losing a confrontation", commented Simon Bradbury, creative director of Firefly Studios and lead designer of Stronghold Kingdoms.

"Strategy cards bring a new tactical depth to classic Stronghold gameplay, all in an online world of tens of thousands of players.

"Balancing making money with making a game freely available is challenging," added Eric Ouellette. "We are convinced that most players will enjoy the many benefits that purchasing extra packs of strategy cards each month offers them."