Command An Army maps

• World Kingdom

  An open fortress layout with several entrances and crossing lanes. Good for flanking raids, but both sides can be robbed from the flank.

  Attacking

  • Split the defenders across the entrances: feint on one side and cut in from the other.
  • Flankers are worth the most here, because no defence can watch every entrance at once.

  Defending

  • Do not stack everything on one point. Keep a mobile unit back to plug gaps.
  • Place ranged units where they cover two lanes at the same time.

  Best units here

  • Scout Rider
  • Lancer
  • Fire Archer

• One-way Field

  A chokepoint layout with a single narrow lane, usually fought over one objective. Once attackers reach critical mass they are very hard to stop.

  Attacking

  • Concentrate on one lane instead of spreading out inside a narrow corridor.
  • Send shields in first to absorb the opening volley, then move ranged units up.

  Defending

  • You have to commit everything: shields stacked with archers is the only real chance of holding.
  • Do not step out of the choke to counter-attack. You lose the terrain advantage the moment you do.

  Best units here

  • Shieldman
  • Imperial Wall
  • Archer
  • Fire Archer

• Open Field

  Open ground with no cover. Flanking is easiest here, cavalry performs best, and ranged units have no escape once something reaches them.

  Attacking

  • Cavalry is the strongest unit type on this map: take the flanks first, then press the middle.
  • Ranged units travel with the shield line and never deploy alone.

  Defending

  • Keep ranged units behind the back row or behind structures, never on the front line.
  • When you are flanked, fall back to defend the ranged units instead of chasing kills.

  Best units here

  • Scout Rider
  • Lancer
  • Samurai

The first twenty seconds

Whichever layout you get, the opening routine is the same and it decides more matches than any upgrade. Send one fast unit - a scout rider is ideal - toward the objective before committing anything else, and watch whether the enemy does the same. If they do not contest the point, you are playing someone who is still setting up, and pressing immediately is correct. If they arrive at the same moment, the fight will be decided by who brought shields, and your job becomes keeping your ranged units alive rather than winning the first exchange.

• One entrance: never split. Stack everything on the single lane, shields first and ranged behind, and let the enemy walk into it.
• Several entrances: commit to one lane and scout the others. A flanker nobody saw is worth more than two extra soldiers in the main push.
• No cover: lead with cavalry, keep ranged units back until the fight is joined, and treat every exposed archer as already dead.
• Defending a near point: you can reinforce indefinitely, so trade slowly. Attackers on a clock lose to defenders who refuse to overextend.

How to read a map before you fight

The fastest way to improve at this game is to stop asking which units are best and start asking how many entrances a map has. A map with one entrance turns the match into a single attrition fight, where stacking shields and arrows behind them is correct and flanking is impossible. A map with several entrances does the opposite: it rewards whoever notices the unguarded side, and it punishes anyone who commits their whole army to the obvious lane.

Cover is the second thing to check. Open ground with no structures means your ranged units have nothing to hide behind, so they become a liability the moment cavalry appears. That is why the Open Field answer is cavalry rather than archers: on a map with no cover, mobility beats reach. On the narrow maps the calculation flips, because a single chokepoint lets a handful of shields protect everything behind them.

Finally, look at where the capture point sits relative to the spawn. A point close to your spawn is a defence you can reinforce indefinitely, while a point in the middle of the map belongs to whoever gets there first with numbers. Knowing which of those two you are looking at should change your opening move before a single unit is placed, and it is more decisive than any individual upgrade you could have bought.

Rules that apply everywhere

• Holding the centre of a point as the defender keeps you out of the direct line of both arrows and javelins.
• Lancer cannot climb walls, so do not bring it to a defence point that requires climbing.
• On defence maps the attacker has to clear whatever controls the gate before NPCs and allies can flood in.