How to play

Know the goal

Each army starts with an HQ, a few properties and, on some maps, a few units. You win when every other army is out of the game. There are two ways to knock an army out:

• Capture their HQ with an Infantry or Mech.
• Destroy all of their units, including any riding in transports.

Take your turn

Players take turns; once everyone has moved, a new day begins. On your turn every unit can move once and then act once: attack, capture, board a transport, unload, resupply its neighbours or just wait. Units you build are ready on your next turn. When you are done, end your turn.

At the start of each of your turns, in this order:

1. You collect income from every property you own.
2. Aircraft and ships burn their daily fuel (not on day 1).
3. Units on your own properties are repaired, refuelled and rearmed.
4. APCs refill the units next to them.
5. Aircraft and ships with an empty tank crash or sink.

Move across the terrain

Select a unit to see the tiles it can reach. Each tile costs movement points depending on the terrain and the unit’s move type: tanks crawl through forests (2 points), trucks on tires hate open fields (2 points on plains), and only foot soldiers climb mountains. Aircraft fly over everything for 1 point a tile.

• You can move through your own units but not stop on them (except to board a transport).
• Enemy units block the way, for every unit, even aircraft.
• Only one unit per tile, and every point of movement burns 1 fuel.
• With fog of war on, you only see the enemies your units can see, and running into a hidden one ends your move on the spot.

Terrain also protects: a unit gets defense stars from the tile it stands on, from none on roads to 2 in forests, 3 in cities and 4 on mountains and HQs. Aircraft never get terrain defense. Full terrain table →

Attack and trade well

Select a unit: crosshairs mark every enemy it can hit this turn. Click one (or press A) and your unit picks the best tile to attack from; click again to fire. The damage depends on the two units (a tank’s cannon wrecks a recon, but barely scratches a heavy tank), the attacker’s health, the defender’s terrain and a little luck. If the defender survives and can hit back at that range, it counterattacks right away, weakened by the damage it just took. The attack preview shows the damage range, the counterattack, and why an enemy won’t hit back when it can’t.

Indirect fire. Artillery, Rockets, Missiles and the Battleship shoot from 2 or more tiles away and never take a counterattack, but they can’t move and fire in the same turn and they don’t fire back when attacked.

Every unit has a job and a nemesis. Look up who beats whom on the unit pages or in the damage chart.

Capture properties

Move an Infantry or Mech onto a neutral or enemy property and choose capture. Every property needs 20 points, and each capture action adds the soldier’s current HP (up to 10). A full-health soldier needs 2 turns; a hurt one takes longer. If the soldier moves away or is destroyed, the progress is lost.

Capturing the enemy HQ knocks that army out of the game.

Earn funds and build units

Each property you own pays 1,000 funds at the start of your turn (skirmish setup can change this). Spend it on new units at your own, empty production buildings:

• Factory: ground units, from the 1,000-fund Infantry upward.
• Airport: copters and planes.
• Port: boats and ships.

More properties means more money means a bigger army, so send soldiers to capture early.

Use your commander’s power

Every army can have a commander. Their passive bonuses are always on, and their power meter fills as your units deal and take damage. Fire the Power when it is full, or keep charging for the Super Power. Powers last until your next turn starts.

Winning and losing

An army is out when its HQ is captured or its last unit is destroyed. Its remaining units leave the board and its properties turn neutral. The last army standing wins. In online games, resigning or running out of time also ends your game. Campaign missions have their own goals, shown at the start of each mission.

Your first game

1. Start with the Bootcamp Bay campaign: its first missions teach moving, capturing and building one idea at a time.
2. In skirmish, pick a small 2-player map and the Easy CPU.
3. Try a few puzzles in Challenges: each one is a single clever move or turn, with hints if you get stuck.
4. Build infantry early and capture the cities near you: income wins long games.
5. Park units on forests, cities and mountains, and keep artillery behind your front line.
6. Before you attack, check the preview: it shows the damage range and the counterattack.

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