Town Bell

The Town Bell is a function of the Town Center in Age of Empires II. Once rung, it causes all Villagers to run for shelter and garrison inside the closest available building: Town Center, Castle, or Tower. Once the danger is over, the Bell may be rung again to release all Villagers and send them back to work.

If no close-by building has room left to garrison any more units, the Villagers will just keep working.

The Town Bell is a very useful function (especially in earlier stages of a game) to prevent the loss of Villagers and to rout the attackers when the town is under attack.

Trivia

 * In the campaign scenarios Feeding the Army and Training the Troops, the Town Bell does not work.