Basic Tactics, Submit Yours!

[pFrog]

Hey, curious as to some of your favorite strategies, Ill' share some of mine. Note, I play Knalgans so alot of my strategies are a bit more applicable to them

ZoC Pinch
This is an obvious one I guess, but you will be surprised at how often I don't see it. For those who don''t know what it is, read up. Put one unit on one side of an enemy unit, put another on the exact opposite side, the opponent will not be able to move except in one hex in any direction.

Ulfserker Charge
This is good for finishing off bosses or a last show of defiance. Have at least two ulfserkers within walking distance of a boss. Make sure you can do a pincer ZoC attack and place one ulfserker on one side. Go in with the ulfserker and attack, granted he will die, but when he does he will leave his spot open, go with the next one, and the next one, until you are out and then put another unit in the hole or the boss will be dead. I have reduced full heath bosses to less than 1/8 of their health with this move, and only 2 ulfserkers.

Spaced Fence
Another strategy i often see unused despite its simplicity. Put two units, one hex between them, preferably on a village or on a high evasive spot. The opponent will not be able to pass through. This can be expanded to include more units. Good units for this is the saurian skirmishes, dwarfish guardsmen, ghosts, and any other character with a high evasion or resistance. Also, if a unit has the ability "steadfast" they are perfect for this. Make sure this is on a choke point as well, it makes for an annoying foothold.

Single Unit Focus
Narrow mindedness is the enemy of any strategist. These past strategies are good for distraction, but alot can be done with just one unit. The units that I like for this the most are guardsmen and skirmishers. Basically, just use this character to pick at vital points, and be a bit intrusive, push buttons, invade territories, harass bosses even. One example (hard to pull off) is the base takeover. When/if the captain leaves his spot to recruit units, push one of the units into his spot. Another option is just to be cocky. Take this unit an plop him onto one of his nearby villages and leave him there, just to annoy him. Most will go after it, and if you're using a highly defensive or highly evasive unit, it will take a few turns for it to die. If he ignores you, just take more of his villages close by, he can't ignore it because you are stealing his resources

[Max]

Ulfserker Charge
This is good for finishing off bosses or a last show of defiance. Have at least two ulfserkers within walking distance of a boss. Make sure you can do a pincer ZoC attack and place one ulfserker on one side. Go in with the ulfserker and attack, granted he will die, but when he does he will leave his spot open, go with the next one, and the next one, until you are out and then put another unit in the hole or the boss will be dead. I have reduced full heath bosses to less than 1/8 of their health with this move, and only 2 ulfserkers.

works with injured units that are very likely to die as well. but it usually is very hard to estimate the chance that those sacrifices will work out. good players usually recognize the danger of two ulfsekers within range, so most of the times you'll have to open a free spot to the leader to even get this chance. works sometimes in really crowded battlefields but looks quite desperate if it doesn't work^^

Spaced Fence
Another strategy i often see unused despite its simplicity. Put two units, one hex between them, preferably on a village or on a high evasive spot.

that's rather common knowledge - btw. this works with two hexes as well...

[pFrog]

for the spaced fence, I posted that one because of how little i see it, its depressing.

[Hariram]

Assassination
If one uses shadow to do the ZOC pinch, then enemy and even bosses can be killed in one turn.( No use of the ZOC if that happens.)
To start with atleast two shadows are required(I sometimes use my leader(risky if plan fails) as one, the other being the first ghost to advance). Divert them to some out of battle place at dusk. Then run towards the boss to kill him at second watch.

[Caphriel]

I really like recruiting units! But gold hoarding can be good, too.
(This should be renamed from "favorite strategy/tactics" to "basic tactics")

While we're on the topic:
Delaying shroud updates! Never again will you suffer from a misclick! Unless, of course, you get ambushed, but you can't do much about that.
Moving a scout ahead half it's MP and then moving it back (in positions where that is safe.) There's no reason not to know what you're enemy is up to.
Covering your squishy units with your tough, chewy units. This is related to the ZoC fence, but it gives a hint of which units should be in the fence, and which behind it. I don't care that mages have better retaliation against skeletons at night (well, equalish against skeletons, better against skel archers), they're not a good unit for blocking with!

[TheGreatRings]

Assassination. Ie, throw everything into an all-or-nothing bid to kill an enemy leader quickly. Not normally advisable, but employable as an option of last resort to even the odds if your team mate quits in Multiplayer.

Forming a line. Advantages should be obvious (interferes with use of pFrog's above-mentioned ZOC Pinch, protects wounded/vulnerable units that retreat behind the line, limits how many directions a single unit can be attacked from at once).

Forming a circle. Put six units in a circle around a unit with Leadership, Heal, or whatever. My prefered formation when doing one of the above mentioned Assassinations.

[Eskon]

There are some situations in which a leader assassination attempt does have odds of over 60, 70 percent - in those cases, it is generally worth going for in even matches, even if failure results in loss of the match. Exception being that you can instead kill other units more safely and obtain a clear advantage that results in even better winning chances.

[Yoyobuae]

Assasination becomes a good option when you're chances to win are otherwise poor. Yet, it's quite hard to asses what are the chances to win/lose.

Unless it's clear that you've been bested by the opponent in everyway, in that case the best shot is going for assasination as a last desperation move, if sucessful then victory else "gg". Like that I've won a couple of games that were otherwise lost for sure, yet that kind of victory feels quite cheap.

[TheGreatRings]

Assasination becomes a good option when you're chances to win are otherwise poor. Yet, it's quite hard to asses what are the chances to win/lose.

Unless it's clear that you've been bested by the opponent in everyway, in that case the best shot is going for assasination as a last desperation move, if sucessful then victory else "gg". Like that I've won a couple of games that were otherwise lost for sure, yet that kind of victory feels quite cheap.

I'm not talking so much about situations where I've been bested, as I am talking about situations where my team mate gets his leader killed by some bit of carelessness and its a question of suddenly facing two to one odds. In that situation, my hope would be to knock out one enemy leader fast, then fight the remaining one to the finish in an even match.

[Chosen1]

If u play whit orcs or undeads, at the beginning it might be good idea to recruit couple of those weak lvl0 units, becouse they dont have maintenance and they can take villages just like lvl1 units can. And in battle they are easy (not much xp needed) to lvl up capable soldiers.

EDIT: Whit undeads and orcs its also very good idea to use alot poison.

[Tonepoet]

You don't normally want a scout heavy army per se as combatively, they're rather ineffective, however sometimes timing is everything. For this reason it can be a good idea to recruit scout-type units when the opponent encroaches in on your territory, if you can gain an extra turn of combat from it.

Also, since they're so much faster, scouts can also utilize what I'd deem "second row villages" for healing purposes without throwing off the pacing of your infantry. This second tactic is particularly important to take note of when playing either Knalgans or Northerners since their scouts have rather reliable longevity prospects, allowing them to soap up damage as "speed recovery tanks" of sorts.

On a final note, since this is a basic tactics submission, everybody should be aware that since they're so fast, scouts can easily probe for villages to steal from the opponent. Just try to hone in on the side where you think they have fewer units and you'll often be treated to a pleasant surprise. Even if you're unsuccessful, at least you can force the opponent to divert a unit to guard duty.

[pauxlo]

If u play whit orcs or undeads, at the beginning it might be good idea to recruit couple of those weak lvl0 units, becouse they dont have maintenance and they can take villages just like lvl1 units can.

Bats are good for village-collecting, OK. But Walking Corpses (4 MP) or Goblins (4 or 5 MP dependent on traits) may be not so good, dependent on village distribution (distance).

[michchar]

Usually the L0's are good for village sitting, finishing off weak enemies, or breaking stalemates.

[Fate]

Really this is just an elaboration on the "send a scout where your enemy has no units" strategy.

On the topic of FoW, it is always a good idea to know where your OPPONENT can see. Of course, it is generally difficult to find out, but a little scouting in an otherwise static line can show where your opponent's vision begins and ends. If there is a hole (not always, but hey) slide a scout through. If you reveal your scout on the same turn as an attack, your opponent will have difficulty pulling units off the front to deal with it and your scout can take villages your opponent would like to use for healing.

Open terrain (such as the sides of Caves of the Basilisk) is almost impossible for this tactic, but impassable terrain (tall mountains or cave wall, such as in Den of Onis, is well suited.



Another trick is to move your units back and forth at the edge of your opponent's vision. It makes it look like you have more units than you actually do.

[Thrawn]

My Basic tactics are pretty much unchanged from This thread