How to play

01 — Break the enemy base

Each side has a base at its end of the field. Bring the enemy base's health to zero to win. When the clock runs out (8 minutes on a standard field), the base with more health left wins; equal health is a draw.

Both bases start with 5,000 health and a gun that shoots ground and air units close to them.

02 — Energy and population

• Energy grows by 5 per second and the rate rises by 1 every 2 minutes, up to 300 stored.
• Every card costs energy. Units also take population: 100 per side unless the match picks another army size (100, 150, 200, 300).
• Defenses, barricades and support strikes take no population.
• Base upgrades cost energy and add health, a stronger gun and extra income (+1/s, +2/s). Held outposts pay extra too.

03 — Deploying and the front line

1. Pick a card at the bottom (or press 1 to 9).
2. Tap inside your production zone, the shaded part of the field on your side.
3. Press and hold still to drop the same unit again every 0.3 seconds.

Both production zones are the same size: the first 40% of the field on each side (48 m on a standard field). The 20% in the middle belongs to nobody. While a card is selected you see both zones: yours, and the enemy's fainter one.

Enemy ground troops inside your zone push its front edge back: you can only deploy 4 m behind the nearest of them, never closer than 6 m in front of your base. Aircraft hold no ground. The same rule applies to the enemy. An outpost you hold is a second production point, as long as no enemy troops stand there.

04 — How units move and fight

• Units walk on their own; you choose what to deploy and where. On a computer you can also steer one unit yourself (see Camera and controls).
• Every unit marches toward the enemy base. On maps with roads it follows the road it was dropped on, and it stops on every outpost along the way until that outpost is its side's.
• Five times a second it looks for the nearest enemy within its range plus a few meters of sight, walks up to it and attacks. Shieldbearers draw ranged fire onto themselves.
• Ranged units stop at their range and shoot; melee units walk into contact. When a target dies or runs off, the unit goes back to its march.
• Rock and water cannot be crossed on foot. Bullets and flames need a clear line, so rock blocks them; arrows, bombs and shells arc over it.
• Aircraft fly over crowds, walls, rock and water. Only units that hit air can shoot them.

01 — Units

Units unlock as you level up; the starters are there from level 1.

The kamikaze drone has no gun: it flies to the nearest enemy, dives in and explodes for 100 damage on everything within 2.5 m, units, defenses and bases alike. The dive is short and cannot be shot down, but anti-air reaches the drone on its way.

02 — What beats what

• Crowds of cheap melee units fall to splash damage: bombers, flamethrowers, tanks, cannons and the kamikaze drone.
• Shieldbearers soak up arrows and bullets so the units behind them live longer.
• Riflemen and cannons break armor; tanks and armored cars take a lot of small-arms fire to bring down.
• Aircraft ignore melee units entirely. Answer them with archers, gunners, riflemen, anti-air gunners, armored cars or an AA gun.
• Mortars outrange everything on the ground and lob their shells over rock.

03 — Defenses and barricades

Defenses go anywhere in your open zone, never move and take no population: up to 3 armed defenses and 4 barricades at a time. A barricade is a sandbag wall lying across the road: enemy ground troops have to break it, yours walk through. In the side view, tapping near a barricade adds the next one beside it, so taps build one wall across the road.

04 — Base upgrades and support strikes

• Ballistic missile: 150 energy, 160 damage within 6 m (250 on a base), 2.6 s flight, 40 s reload.
• Air strike: 200 energy, a plane carpets 11 m around the spot with 90 damage (150 on a base), 3.4 s to arrive, 60 s reload.
• Each strike reloads on its own. Both are marked for both sides while in flight, so troops on the move can still get out of the way.
• The base can be upgraded twice during a match (200 and 300 energy, key U).

01 — The maps

Every map is the same ground for both sides, mirrored across the middle. New maps open as you level up.

02 — Terrain

• Rock (ridges and mountains) cannot be walked through and blocks bullets and flames. Arrows, bombs and shells arc over it.
• Water can only be crossed on its bridges; every weapon fires across it.
• Trees stop troops and bullets like rock, but they fall: a tree goes down after 120 damage from blasts and flames (bombs, shells, mortars, missiles, air strikes, kamikaze drones, flamethrowers), from either side. Arrows and bombs arc over them.
• On a hill (green ground with contour lines) ranged units shoot 30% farther. Melee units gain nothing there.
• Mud (brown ground with reed marks) slows every walker to 50% of its speed. Aircraft fly over it.
• Roads are drawn as dotted lines. Troops follow the road they are dropped on; in the side view, pick the road for your taps in the box under the zone label (key L). On the wide plains nothing is drawn, but troops still keep to the third of the field they land in.
• Aircraft fly straight over everything, which makes them strongest on the twisting maps.

03 — Outposts

• Stand ground troops within 6 m of an outpost with no enemy troops there to take it: one unit takes a neutral outpost in 8 seconds, more units up to twice as fast. Taking an enemy outpost first brings it to neutral.
• A held outpost pays its income every second, shoots enemies within 6 m with a small gun, and lets its holder deploy within 7 m while no enemy troops stand there.
• A guard post (marked with a shield) protects its own side's base: while that side holds it, the base takes no damage at all, missiles included. Take the enemy's guard post before you lay siege.
• Marching troops take every outpost on their road before going on, and go back for the enemy's guard post when they find its base shielded.

04 — Rotation, field length and army size

• Match setup keeps three choices apart: the map (the ground), the field length (how long it is) and the army size (population per side).
• Rotation plays a different map every classic match, and a newly unlocked map comes first. After a classic match, Continue starts the next one.
• Any map plays on a standard 120 m, large 200 m or huge 300 m field; longer fields have a longer clock and more starting energy.

01 — Camera views

Switch views with the buttons at the top right (a dropdown on phones) or the V key. The re-center button or C brings the current view back to its default framing. Wide and upright views keep their own zoom and position. In the side view, mountains sink nearly flat so the far road stays in sight.

02 — Controls

Tap or click

Deploy the selected card

Press and hold

Deploy it again every 0.3 seconds

Drag

Move the camera

Wheel or pinch

Zoom

Right-drag, two-finger twist

Free view: turn and tilt

1 to 9

Select a card

U

Upgrade the base

V, C

Next view, re-center

L

Side view on maps with roads: next road

Q / E, R / F

Free view: turn, tilt

W A S D, arrows, + / -

Move and zoom the camera

G

Steer the unit under the pointer

X

Match speed: 1×, 2×, 3× (matches against the bot and the sandbox)

Full screen button

Top right of the title screen and of a match, or in Settings; Esc also leaves it

P or Esc

Pause (matches against the bot)

M

Sound on or off

03 — Steer a unit yourself

On a computer, in matches against the bot and in the sandbox, point at one of your marching units and press G. The camera follows it and a ring marks it. W A S D or the arrows walk it the way the camera looks; standing still it strikes anything in reach, and Space strikes on the move. G, Esc or the Let go button hands it back to its own march. Online matches do not have this: the server moves every unit.

04 — Match speed

In matches against the bot and in the sandbox, the 1× button at the top right, or X, runs the match at double or triple speed; once more goes back to normal. Everything speeds up alike: energy, reloads, the clock and the bot, so nothing gets easier or harder. Online matches always run at normal speed, because the server keeps time for both players.

05 — While paused

Pausing a match against the bot opens a card with How to play, Settings and the match statistics so far, all without leaving the match. Look around hides the card: drag, zoom, switch views and point at units while nothing moves.