Shield Line: Riot Police Tactics

Shield Line: Riot Police Tactics is a real-time tactics game in which you command a riot police unit. From peaceful marches to post-derby clashes, from looted shopping centres to a station under siege, your job is to keep order across the city's districts. How you keep it is up to you. The crowd decides how it ends The crowd is not a single enemy. Each mission brings 250-300 people, and every one of them acts on their own anger, fear and patience. Peaceful marchers, ringleaders, militants, hooligans and looters all behave differently. Panic spreads and narrow streets turn into crushes. Excessive force makes a crowd grow. Hold the line, then rotate Form shield lines, protective rings and evacuation corridors at any angle. A line with its flanks resting on buildings can't be outflanked; a line in an open square tires fast. Tired front ranks fall back while the second rank takes over. Sweep the barricades Rioters build barricades out of bins, tyres and planks, set some of them on fire and throw stones and molotovs from behind them. Push your shield line forward, break every barricade it touches and reopen the street. Stun gunners drop whoever steps forward; gas officers gas the ground behind the barricade. 12 unit types Shield officers, patrol officers, gas grenadiers, water cannon, mounted police, flash-bang team, undercover officers, medics, negotiators, police drone, prisoner van and more. Each has strengths and weaknesses; sending the right unit to the right place is your job. Talk first A well-timed announcement or a negotiation with the ringleader can end the day without bloodshed. Undercover officers blend into the crowd and identify the agitators. Intervening against those caught red-handed is justified; touching a peaceful protester angers the civilians watching. Night, rain and fog What your officers can't see stays dark: incidents arrive as emergency calls, and not every call is true. CCTV cameras and the drone are your eyes. Night, rain and fog change visibility, tear gas, fires and the mood of the crowd. Every decision makes a headline Journalists film every intervention. Each mission ends with a newspaper headline, a shift in public trust and a crowd that remembers. Funds, specialist units, equipment upgrades, detention decisions and intelligence carry over between missions; failure makes the next mission harder. Different every time Every mission comes with different waves, weather and surprise events on every run. Build your own scenarios with the mission editor.