Arm Aged Don Empires Play Guide

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    ARMAGEDDON EMPIRES PLAY GUIDE Dubious Quality

    Armageddon Empires Play Guide: Part One

    All right, let's get started. Please note that I'm writing this guide with an extremeamount of detail because I want people who don't normally play this kind of game tohave a chance to enjoy it as well. Also, please remember that you can click on any ofthese screenshots to see a larger version.

    When you start a new game, you'll see a game options screen, and here's what Irecommend in terms of game setup, at least for new players:--max card points: 175 (that relates to deck quality)--select deck: ImperialDemoDeck (other decks are available for download)

    --max tile points: 5--map size: normal--resources: uncommon--specials: uncommon--opponents: random (both)

    After the game setup screen, you'll roll for initiative. Before every turn in the game, youroll for initiative, and if you win the roll and go first, you'll be rewarded with moreAction Points (AP), which we'll be talking about shortly.

    After the roll, you'll be given a chance to lay the "staging area" tile. Your units will be

    in supply for a certain distance from this base (supply range can be extended later), soplace the tile as far into the board as possible. Then, take the base card and drag it ontothe staging area, which will deploy your base. When you're done, this is what you'll see:

    Note the colored circles with numbers at the top of your base hex. Those are resources: .Human, Materials, Energy, and Technology. The numbers indicate how many resourcesare potentially available in that hex. Those resources are not automatically collected,though--you need some kind of structure (a collection facility or a base) to collect them,

    and most facilities can collect only one of each resource, which means for a hex withtwo energy, for example, you'd need a collection facility AND a base.

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    We're done here. Choose the "Start Game" button and wait briefly for the game map tobe created.

    Once the game begins, before each turn you'll have the opportunity to buy initiative die.

    You can spend any kind of resource type you have available to increase the number ofdie you get when rolling for initiative each turn.

    Being first in a turn gets you extra action points, and everything you do in the gamecosts action points, so having more is always better. However, it also takes resources todo things as well, so you have to decide when it's worth giving up resources to improveyour chances of getting the turn initiative. For now, we have almost no resources, sowe're just going to roll.

    I lost the roll and I'm going third this turn. After the other two empires (The MachineEmpire and the Free Mutants in this game) take their turn (which I won't see unless I

    have units in the area of the activity), it's finally my turn.

    Let's get familiar with screen, because it's the basic game screen, and you'll be seeing itevery turn. At the top left, you have a mini-map that can show you terrain, the hexesyou control, the hexes you've explored, and the hexes you're observing (viareconnaisance and other units,I believe).

    At the very top, those colored circles represent available action points (AP) and yoursupply of the four resource types.

    The hex map takes up most of the screen.

    The bottom panel shows you the cards currently in your hand (notice the very coolartwork). You'll have more than five cards in your current hand, usually, and you canscroll left or right with the red arrows. On the right, you can see how many cards remainto draw (see the red hand with "48" underneath).

    At the very bottom of the screen are a few useful switches. There are times when you'll

    be displaying "Tactics" cards in that card window instead of unit cards, and the "DisplayHand" and "Tactics" buttons let you switch betwen them (or make the panel go away

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    entirely, which is necessary when deploying units at the bottom of the map). The redhand holding the cards icon and associated number show you how many cards are inyour current hand.

    If you click on the "Supply" button, the map will turn green to show you which hexes

    are in supply. This is an important concept, because units out of supply suffer bothbattle penalties as well as movement penalties. This is particularly important withreconnaisance units--when they're out of supply, they can only move one hex per turninstead of their regularthree or four hexes.

    The "Events" button helps you see what's gone on in the game world in the last turn.This won't show you any new information, though, just what your units have observed.

    The "Players" button will give you information about your opponents--again, though,nothing you can't observe, although it will tell you the unique abilities that areinherently possessed by each faction (some actions cost fewer action points for certain

    factions than others, for example).

    The "Menu" button does just what you expect it to--gives you options to save, load, andexit.

    I took a second screenshot of this screen, before beginning my turn, because I lookedthrough my hand and found an Imperial Recon unit. Take a look:

    You will notice that the card is a lighter color than the others--that means I havesufficient resources and action points to deploy this card (which you can verify at thetop of the screen). The other units require more resources or action points than I haveavailable.

    That's okay, though, because in the early part of the game, recon is particularlyimportant. Exploring a hex can pay huge benefits, either through finding a cache ofresources or finding a permanent supply, which I can then harvest with the appropriatefacilities. These hexes tend to be fiercely contested, though, so I'll also need to stationenough units in thehex to provide a proper defense.

    Given the post-apocalyptic setting, almost everything tends to be in short supply:

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    resources, units, everything. It gives the entire game a tinge of desperation that istremendously appealing.

    Look at the right side of the screen, where you'll see a description of the Imperial Reconunits capabilties (this pops up when you hover the mouse pointer over a card). These

    generally match what the card itself says, but in more detail.

    Hit points mean exactly what you'd expect, and notice that recon units have very few hitpoints, although they can be augmented to a limited degree by researchedenhancements. The trade-off for low hit points, though, is the movement range--fourhexes per turn, which in this game, is absolutely huge.

    "Attack" and "Defense" are both listed as 2. This means the unit, in both attacking anddefending situations, rolls 2 dice. Units can have up to 10 dice for attacks or defense,and some units have a wide variance in their attack capabilites versus their defensivecapabilities. The "Range" ratings is 1, which means that in battle, the unit must be in the

    front row to beable to launch an attack, and it can only attack units in the opponent'sfront row.

    "Stealth" means that the unit has a special mode it can engage to remain hidden, and the"5" rating for Stealth means that it will be relatively hard to discover. When a unit thisunderpowered is doing recon, you always want it to be in stealth mode, or it won't lastvery long.

    It may sound trivial, understanding what each rating on the card means, but I took itsomewhat for granted for the first few hours, and I didn't learn nearly as quickly as aresult. Unlike many other games, the ratings of a unit in Armageddon Empires arecritically important--you're not going to churn out units like loaves of bread at a Mrs.Baird's factory. Except in very rare instances (for The Empire of Man, at least), yourunits are limited by the deck itself.

    Again, this game distinguishes itself in that almost everything is finite. That makesevery individual unit far more important.

    Okay, so now that I want to actually deploy the Imperial Recon unit, what do I do? Iscroll down to the bottom of the map and locate my base (if it's not already showing).Then, click and drag the Imperial Recon over the hex that contains my base.You can

    deploy a unit card at any base, but this is the only one I have right now.

    The number of cards in your hand (bottom panel) will decrement one, and the numberof action points (AP) you have remaining will decrement as well.

    Okay, we've played the card. Where is it now?

    To the side of the base icon, you'll see an attached rectangle with a "1". That refers tothe garrison that is located at the base, but as of yet, there are no other units. Click onthat icon and you'll see this screen:

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    You can see your Imperial Recon card behind that pop-up screen, which comes up when

    you press the "Create Army" button. Before you can move your unit anywhere, it has tobe transferred into an existing army, so I need to create one. I plan on sending this unitout to the west, so let's name it "Recon West." Note that it costs 3 AP to create thatarmy (you can see the 3AP designation in the screenshot).

    Once you've created the army (which you'll see added to that screen), select it with themouse, then drag your recon card into the new army. Now "Recon West" has one unit init, and you can close this screen.

    What was a "1" by the base is now a "2", which reflects that I added the recon unit(which is located in the hext but not assigned to defending the base). If I wanted to seewhat units were assigned to defending the base, I'd just left-click on the base (which

    pulls up a screen that shows you all base-assigned units), but this time, I want to selectthe recon army so that I can start scouting.

    To select an army from the main screen, you're going to right-click on the icon in thehex where it's located. In this case, it's the icon with the "2".

    I do that and here's what I see:

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    The unit name (Recon West) is now displayed, along with the AP it requires to move,and how many hexes it can move per turn. Below that, you'll see a little mask, and ifyou left click on that, stealth mode is activated for that unit (only a few units can go intostealth mode).

    I left-click on the mask to put the unit into stealth mode, then right-click the "2" again tore-select the army. This time, I click on "Recon West," which selects the army, and Ican then move into adjoining hexes. Each hex has a movement point number on it toshow how many movement points it will cost me to move into the hex. Also, each hex Iexplore will then be identified, like this:

    I didn't find any resources or supply caches, but quickly scouting the board and findingwhere those resources exist is crucial to success. Ideally, you'd have several recon unitsscouting in all directions.

    You may be asking "What the hell is that blue facility?" That's the same thing I wasasking, because I've never seen a facility that close so early in the game. The blue colorindicates that the facility is controlled by Independents, not an organized faction, andsometimes Independents will be willing to join your army for certain, um,"considerations." In thiscase, though, I need to watch them carefully--I've never seen anIndependent unit attack my base, but I haven't deployed any units there yet.

    Did I say a guide to the first 10-20 turns today? I guess I meant one turn, because that'smore than enough for now. I'll have Part Two of the guide available on Monday, andhopefully then we'll cover up to turn 10-15.

    Armageddon Empires Play Guide: Part Two

    For Part One of this play guide, go here.

    Turn two begins and I lost the roll for initiative--my turn is second and I have eightaction points (AP) available.

    Here's a look at the map and my hand (five of six cards--one is not visible without

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    scrolling):

    Remember, you can click on the screenshot to see it as a much larger image.

    You can see that several cards are not grayed out, which means I could deploy thembased on my available action points and resources. Let's take a look at these cards,because it will help me explain some basic concepts.

    As I said in part one of this guide, you can always hover the mouse pointer over a cardto get a detailed unit information window, but it will save you time to get familiar withthe "shorthand" version presented on the card itself. Let's take a look at that now.

    In the upper-right section of the card, you'll see how many action points (AP) andresources are needed to deploy the unit. resources required for deployment--in this case,2 action points (AP) and 1 of all four resource types. This is consistent across all unittypes.

    On every unit card, you'll see three numbers just below the unit picture, and three morenumbers at the bottom of the card (which you can see in the screenshot above). Here'swhat those numbers mean, depending on unit type:

    Unit Type------Ground-----Air----------Hero

    Top Left----------Attack-------Attack------Command

    Top Center-------Defense----Defense-------FateTop Right-------Resistance----Fate-------ResistanceBottom Left-----Movement--Movement--MovementBottom Center--Hit Points--Hit Points---Wound PointsBottom Right-----Range------Range--------Empty

    Here are some brief category descriptions.Attack: number of dice used by unit when attacking (max 10).Defense: number of dice used by unit when defending (max 10).Resistance: damage resisted when facing "unconventional" attacks, like biologicalweapons.

    Fate: each point allows you to re-rolled a die during a combat turn.Movement: Potential per turn in number of hexes.

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    Hit Points: what you'd expect. Shown as current/potential.Range: attack range when using the combat grid (more about this later).Command: only for heroes, this rating tells you how many armies this hero cancommand without unit penalties.Wound points: also only for heroes, how many (in essence) hit points they can lose

    before being assassinated or captured.

    I'll discuss heroes at a later point, but for now, let's look at the differences in ground andair units and how they're deployed.

    Here's an easy way to understand the difference in terms of how it affects your hand.When ground units are deployed, they are deployed at any based, attached to an army,and the card is removed from your hand (it goes from being a card in your hand to a

    piece on the board, in other words).

    Air units, though, don't join an army--they fly combat sorties from any base. And these

    cards don't get removed from your hand when you deploy them--theystay in your handunless they're destroyed in combat. When you want to use one, just drag it onto thetarget. It can be used as often as you want, as long as you have enough action

    points/resources to initiate the combat sortie. And if you want to see an air unit card, thefirst card to the left of the screen in the above screenshot is the F-227 Nightwing airunit.

    For this turn, let's take a look at the second card from the left--the MoRV-IV Leopard.This ground unit doesn't have stealth capability, but it can do reconnaisance, and it haslow deployment costs, which makes it an excellent early-game unit.

    I deploy the Leopard by dragging the unit card onto the base. Then I click on the baseattachment (the "1" in a rectangle), create an army ("Recon East"), and drag the unitcard onto the army to transfer it.

    After closing out the army screen, I right click on the rectangular attachment to the baseand select the Recon East army, then left-click on an adjoining hex to move it (in thiscase, I moved two hexes). When I reached the second hex, I got this message:

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    When you have units scouting, you will sometimes find caches of resources or weapons,and all you need to do is choose "claim" to add them to your stockpiles. If this unit haddiscovered a continuing source of resources, I would have used a different procedure tocapture those resources every turn (which we'll do later).

    After moving the Recon East unit, I still have two action points remaining. I use 1 AP tomove the Recon West unit, but scouting three hexes reveals no caches or resources.

    I'd like to draw a card, since I now only have five in my hand, but I need 3 AP and onlyhave 1 remaining.

    The early game goes much, much more quickly than the play guide makes it seem. I'mtrying to introduce and explain concepts as we go along, but when you play, these earlyturns go quickly.

    Part Three of the play guide will be up on Wednesday. I promise it will take us past turn

    three.

    Armageddon Empires Play Guide: Part Three

    For part one of this play guide, go here, and for part two, go here.

    Turn three begins. I'm still low an Action Points, having lost the initiative roll, so moveboth of my recon units, and look what I've found:

    I've played at least 30 games of Armageddon Empires, but this is something I've neverseen, at least so early: the area around my base is absolutely lousy with independentunits.

    This could be a big problem, a game-ender, but Independent units are often lessaggressive than the factions, so maybe it's an opportunity instead--there must beresources worth having if I can capture those hexes.

    To do that, though, I need more units (I'm down to five cards in my hand, and two of

    those are air units), so I use my last action points to draw another card.

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    In turn four, I use both recon units (discovering anotherindependent base as well as asquatter's camp that gives me 6 additional human resources), then decide to deploy thecard I drew on my last turn. It's an MoBV-V Panther, a tank unit with 5-5 (attack-defense) as well as 8 hit points.

    I only have 2 AP left, not enough to create an army for the Panther unit to join, but I dohave enough AP to deploy Valentine Kusanagi, a hero who has some excellent specialabilities. Take a look:

    She's a powerful unit, and rare--a very high stealth rating (7), with both the assassin andsaboteur skills. Ideally, I'd like to use genetic research to increase her wound points andability to withstand attacks, but the Independents have forced my hand, so she will beused sooner.

    Using hero cards can be a cat and mouse game at times, particularly with researcherslike technologists and geneticists. Assassins from other factions can kill your heroes,you see, but while the card stays in your hand, it's not even on the board. So deploying ahero too early, when their specialties can't be used effectively, just exposes them tounnecessary danger. With someone like Kusanagi, though, her saboteur skill makes itvery difficult to "save" the card.

    Another consideration: if you're holding several air unit cards in your hand, and maybeholding back one or two heroes for future use, your hand is mostly going to be static,which creates its own problems.

    Turn five begins and recon discovers some fuel tanks. I create an army for my Panthertank unit and name it "Indie", hoping that it will mop up some of the independent unitsrunning around like ants. I also draw one more card and get lucky by acquiring anotherImperial Recon unit (stealth-capable).

    At the beginning of turn six, I realize I have 12 Human resources, and since I needadditional Action Points for some of the strategies I want to use, I use 5 of thoseresources and add them to my initiative roll pool, giving me 8 dice versus 3 for the othertwo factions.

    Winning initiative gives me 12 AP instead of 8, which will be very helpful during thisturn. First off, my Recon West unit discovers an Independent-controlled hex that has 2

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    Human, 1 Energy, and 1 Research resources per turn. In other words, a highly desirablehex to control.

    I create an army ("Kusanagi") for my hero. Normally, a hero's skills are best used as aleader of other units, but the Assassins work better alone. I haven't moved the Panther

    unit or Kusanagi yet, but they're ready to go when I need them.

    I have 3 AP left, and I'd like to soften up the defenses in that resource square, so Idecide to call in an air-strike with my F-227 Nightwing (which I've mentioned

    previously). One attack costs me 3 AP as well as 2 Energy resources. There are three4/4 units defending the hex, and I only get 1 point of damage, so that was a waste of APand resources.

    Turn five, and I lose the roll and go second. My Recon East unit, which blundered into aminefield and was injured on the previous turn, stumbles across a Machine Empire unit.

    Normally, it could defeat this 3-3 unit, but it's already low on hit points, so I call in an

    air strike in an attempt to bail it out, since I don't want to lose a unit this early in thegame, even if it's only doing recon. I cause 2 points of damage, so at least my recon unitwill have a fighting chance when it goes into combat later in the turn.

    Here's what my section of the world looks like now, and you can see it's gotten quitebusy already:

    I have 5 Independent facilities very close to my base, and you can see that Recon West

    is observing (in stealth mode) that desirable hex with the renewable resources.

    There's also the Machine Empire unit, which I'll be battling now. I'm not going to inserta screenshot of the Combat screen here, because with a one-on-one battle there's notmuch to discuss. They wind up retreating and survive, but so does my unit.

    When turn six starts, though, the Machine Empire goes first and launches an air strikeagainst Recon East. That tells me that the Machine Empire must have a base nearby (inan as-yet unrevealed hex), because air units have limited attack range.

    Recon East is well-crippled at this point, so I try to get it back to the base for repair. I'm

    one hex short, but hopefully it will survive until I can it to the base on the next turn. Ideploy an Imperial Grenadiers unit (5-4) into the Indie army, because I'm going to need

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    several units to take that resource hex.

    I'm down to 2 AP at this point, so I go ahead and deploy the Imperial Recon unit that Ihave in my hand. I'll name the army "Recon North" on the next turn.

    Turn seven and I lose the initiative roll (a familiar theme), and I'm going third. I getRecon East back to my base, but I need more AP than I have to repair the unit, so it'sgoing to have to wait until the next turn. I create the Recon North army, transfer theImperial Recon unit into it, stealth the unit, and the turn's over.

    As you can see, you face some choices in the early game about accumulating resourcesversus using those resources to improve your chances of acquiring the turn initiative(with a boost of 4 AP as a reward).

    In this case, if I go first on the next turn, I can guarantee that my Recon unit will get tothe base, so on turn eight I use 4 resources, add them to the dice pool, and win the first

    move. I repair Recon East, and Recon West discovers an abandond military base with aspecial "unit attachment" card I can use to improve the abilities of an infantry unit (theGrenadiers, in this case). It gives the unit an 8 anti-aircraft attack, which may come invery handy.

    Recon North, in its first move, discovers an abandoned gas depot and claims 2 units ofenergy.

    I have 4 AP left, and I desperately need a hero General. I draw a card (which takes 3AP), and hit the jackpot with Ulysses Starke. Take a look at his unit card:

    There's lots of good stuff there: a command rating of 8 (he can command eight units inan army without any unit penalties, which is excellent), 4 Fate points (which can beused to re-roll dice during battle), high Charisma (which results in 1 extra Humanresource being gathered per turn), Raider rating of 2 (extends supply range for his army2 hexes beyond the supply range of the nearest base), and his Military Genius meansthat all units under his command get a +1 to both attack and defense.

    In other words, he's a bad-ass, and I immediately deploy him into the "Indie" army, so

    he now has two units under his command.

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    That ends turn eight. I have multiple objectives to accomplish (hopefully) in the nextfew turns:--gain control of that renewable resource hex and build facilities to gather the resources--deploy additional units to defend my base in case of attack, because if the base is lost,it's game over.

    --deploy my assassin to weaken the facilities of the Independents, making it easier forarmed forces to move in.

    I'll have the next installment of the play guide up on Friday or Monday.

    Armageddon Empires Play Guide: Part Four

    Previous installments:part onepart two

    part three

    On to turn nine. As you'll remember from part three, I'm trying to accomplish threethings: gain control of the resource hex southwest of my home base, deploy additionalunits to protect my base, and deploy my assassin/saboteur unit.

    I lose the initiative roll (surprise) and go third. Recon units find an old battlefield with 6Materials resources, which I claim. I deploy Kusanagi (assassin/saboteur) and beginmoving her toward the resource hex--I want to weaken any existing facilities before Iattack. I have just enough AP left to draw a card--and draw another technologist hero. IfI can just draw the proper facilities cards, I can significantly improve my position,

    because I now have the heroes to research genetics, technology, and tactics.

    Turn ten. I lose the roll and go second. I find a supply cache with 6 Materials and 6Energy resources. I'm now piling up some resources--current number are 5 Human, 15Material, 15 Energy, and 11 Tech. I'll be able to start using some of those resources togain extra dice for the initiative roll.

    I sent Kusanagi one hex closer to the resource hex, and with my remaining 3 AP I drawa card (the MRA-21 Reaper, an artillery unit with 8 attack but only 2 defense. Definitelya back row unit in combat--it wouldn't last one turn in front).

    For turn eleven, I add four dice to my three dice for the initiative roll--and still lose. Sothose resources were just wasted. I send Kusanagi into the resource hex, only to find outthat there are no facilities and no heroes around--just three low-level units defending thehex. Another wasted move.

    I deploy the Reaper into the Indie unit, giving me three combat units in that army. I'mnot far away from heading for the resource hex, but I need to have a few defensive unitsleft to guard the base. 3 AP left and I draw a card.

    Jackpot. I draw the MRC-11 Ozymandias unit (I really love the unit names in this

    game). It's attack-defense is only 4-2, but that's not why it's so valuable. It functions as aresource collector unit in the hex where it's located, and it can collect up to 3 Materials,

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    3 Energy, and 3 Tech units per turn (if they're available in the hex).

    I waste two more resources in turn twelve trying to gain initiative. Going second, Ideploy another Grenadiers unit into the Indie army, giving me four combat units there.Recon turns up nothing, and now I face a decision. I can use air attacks on the resource

    hex (using my F-227 Nightwing unit), but it costs 3 AP and 2 Energy resources for eachattack. A steep price this early in the game, but with no facilities in the hex, it can't beintercepted, so it should be entirely safe. I attack and destroy one of the three unitslocated there, so it turns out to be a bargain.

    Turn thirteen. I lose initiative and go second. This time, I only move two recon units(finding nothing), then prepare another air attack into the resource hex. This time, I onlydo one point of damage, but I'm still grinding down those units.

    Saving the AP point of that unused recon unit means that I have 3 AP left, so I can drawone more card, and it's a good one: Vincent Muggle, a hero with the Chief of Staff skill

    as well as Logistics Genius.

    What can he do? Well, take a look:

    Most importantly, he increases your maximum hand size by two, so you can have ninecards in your hand instead of seven. He also increases the supply range for all units bytwo (if he's located at your HQ, which he will be).

    The Machine Empire finds my Recon East unit during its turn, attacks, and destroys it.

    Turn fourteen, and incredibly, I win the initiative roll. That means I have 12 AP insteadof 8, and since I want to deploy Muggle as well as quite a few other actions, they'llcome in handy.

    The first thing I do is deploy Vincent Muggle to headquarters--now I get the supplyrange and larger hand size bonuses. Next, I draw a card, because I need one moremilitary unit in my Indie army before I attempt to take the resource hex. Instead I drawanother hero, so I draw one more card.

    That gets me my favorite unit when playing as the Humans. It's the MeBU-IIVengeance, a mech unit with 10 Attack and 8 Defense. It also has the Critical Damage

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    modifier, so any successful attack inflicts 2X damage.

    It's just what I needed, but I can't deploy it until the next turn, because deploymentrequirements are heavy (8 AP, then 1-7-4-4 in resources). I go ahead and use both of myrecon units, then end the turn.

    Turn fifteen, and I lose the initiative roll. It takes all 8 of my AP to deploy the MeBU-IIVengeance.

    Turn sixteen, and I deploy the Ozymandias unit into the Indie army. I also use bothrecon units. Kusanagi strikes gold by finding an occupied hex just north of my basewith 3 Materials, 2 Energy, and 2 Tech resources per turn. It's also occupied byIndependents, and it goes to second on my "to do" list.

    Turn seventeen, and I'm going second. I draw a card and it's another Panther unit, whichwill come in very handy, since I'd like to leave a unit defending the base (bases have

    their own defenses, but leaving them otherwise undefended is a bad idea).

    Turn eighteen, and I need 7 AP to move the Indie army but I lose the initiative roll andonly get 6 AP, so they sit. Kusanagi finds a Machine Empire base, which is very usefulintel. My other recon unit finds a squatter's camp with 6 Human resources.

    An important note: when a recon unit finds some kind of abandoned base, itautomatically de-stealths to collect the resources. Remember to re-stealth the unit.

    Turn nineteen, and using some of the 6 resources discovered last turn to increase theinitiative die pool, I finally win initiative. I move the Indie army, and I'm actually closerto the northern resource hex than the southwestern, so I may attempt to take it over first.

    Turn twenty, and I win initiative again (after sacrificing a few resources to get extradice for the initiative roll.). I move the Indie army north, to a resource hex currentlyclaimed by the Independents, and get ready for battle.

    Prior to combat, you'll see an information screen that shows you which armies are in thehex, and you can choose which one you want to attack. If you have multiple armies in ahex, you can prioritize their combat order as well.

    Next, you'll arrange the units in your army. Take a look:

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    This screen confused me at first, so let's quickly review how it works. The top two rowsare for enemy units. The second two rows are for your units, and the bottom row is fortactics cards (which we'll discuss later). The rule on unit placement is that (excluding

    heroes) you must have at least one more unit in the front row than the back row. My twomost vulnerable units, by far, have to stay in the back row, so everyone else (includingthe mech unit, which I'd rather have in back for protection) is going to have to be infront.

    When you're done, click on "ready" and combat begins. You'll see a pop-up screen thatexplains who won initiative for the combat round (based on unit ratings, and I woninitiative this time). Here's what the in-combat screen looks like:

    To see the capabilities of one of your units, just left click on its card. You can also clickon the enemy unit cards for information as well.

    We're ready to attack. You can attack with one unit at a time, and since these zombieunits are very weak (3 Attack, 1 Defense), I'm going to use the mech unit first andhopefully destroy one enemy unit. I right-click on the MeBU-II Vegeance (the mech)card and get a "combat attack" pop-up option, which I select. The cursor changes to atarget and all I need to do is click on one of the enemy units.

    One note. A few units, like the MeBU-II have multi-targeting capability. That means

    you can split your attack (10 dice, in this case) to include two enemy units, but since thezombies are getting a one-die defense bonus for terrain, I'm just going to use all of

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    them.

    The attack is successful and I destroy the unit. My mech unit card now has a red checkto indicate that it's used its attack for this round of combat.

    The zombie unit attacks next and fails. Then I take my Panther unit and attack anotherZombie unit. The actual dice roll screen in combat looks like this:

    It's a simple setup--you see the attacking and defending units, their remainging hitpoints, plus the number of dice they roll. Actually, you should probably think of the"dice" more as coins, because each die only has two outcomes--pass or fail.

    You'll also see the "Fate" category by some units. If a hero commands the army, then itsunits have a pool of Fate points (determined by the hero's fate rating) to use during

    battle. In this case, I have 5 Fate points, which means I can re-roll up to 5 dice duringcombat (during the entire battle, not each turn). The box to the right of that says "PlayTactic Card Here." I don't have any Tactic cards yet, but they're very important and canoften sway the result of a battle. We'll discuss them later, when I have a War Collegeand can research them.

    This battle doesn't last long. My Panther and Artillery units wind up taking out the lastof the Zombies, and the resource hex is mine.

    Now that I have the resource hex, though, I still need to build facilities to collect those

    renewable resources. Sure I have the Ozymandias in the hex, and it automaticallycollects resources, but I want that unit moving with its army, so that collection ability isjust a convenience until I get the proper facilities built.

    I have 2 AP left, so I move two recon units, including Kusanagi, who I'd like to get backto my base to protect my other heroes located there.

    Turn twenty, and I lose the initiative roll and go third. I have an Imperial Fire Base card(which allows me to build a base in any hex I control), which would collect 1 of allavailable resources in a hex, so I deploy it into the resource hex I now control. Tocollect any more resources in that square, though, I'll need to build collection facilities--

    one for each resource type that is available in that hex (beyond the one unit my base iscollecting). I get Kusanagi back to my main base, use one other recon unit, and I'm out

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    of AP.

    After twenty turns, here's what the world looks like (and remember, I can't capture ascreenshot of the full world, so this is just the area around my base):

    I've definitely got some things going my way now--I control a major resource hex, withanother one nearby that should soon be under my control. This will increase myresource base so much that it will easier to use resources to gain dice for the turninitiative as well as deploying some of the more powerful units (which have steepdeployment resource requirements). Plus, getting the turn initiative more often means 6more AP each time, and I'll be able to draw new cards more frequently.

    I still need to explain research, so there will be at least one more installment of the playguide.

    Armageddon Empires Play Guide: Part Five

    Previous installments:part onepart twopart three

    part four

    We begin this installment with turn twenty-one. I go third (surprise). I move recon units,discovering a Machine Empire base to the east.

    Now I need to split the army ("Indies") that currently controls the resource hex to thenorthwest of my home base. I'll leave a few units to defend the base I've built, then sendthe rest to the south to claim the other resource hex controlled by the Independents. Iname this new army "IndySouth," then transfer the Me-BUII Vengeance mech unit intothe army.

    With only 1 Action Point remaining, I deploy another hero (Eric Mai, a MasterStrategist and Tactician) to my northern base (the resource hex) and transfer him into

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    the IndySouth army.

    Turn twenty-two, and I go third. I transfer the resource gathering Ozymandias unit intoIndySouth, so that I will collect resources immediately when I control the southern hex.Once it leaves the northern resource hex, though, I'll need to build collection units to

    gather the additional resources beyond what the base can gather (a base can gather 1-1-1-1 each turn). I also transfer a Grenadiers unit into IndySouth, and that uses up all myremaining AP.

    Turn twenty-three, and I finally win initiative after using resources to get four additionaldice for the roll. I have 12 AP to use, and the first thing I do is move the IndySouth unittoward the southern resource hex. Once the army has moved (and the Ozymandias unithas left the hex, which means its no longer gathering the extra resources), I need to

    build collection units for all three resource types (Scrap, Energy, and Tech).

    A brief refresher on what we've discussed earlier. A Base can gather 1 of each resource

    type available in the hex. A collection facility can gather 1 of its own type. That governswhat kinds of facilities you need to build. In my case, in a 3 Materials-2 Energy-2 Techhex, I'll need the base plus three facilities (one each of Materials, Energy, and Tech) togather 2 of each resource type per turn.

    Let's build one now. Heroes build collection facilities, so I click on the rectangleattached to my northern Base, which brings up my armies/facilities for the hex. Then Iclick on the "IndySouth" army, which shows me the unit cards in that army, includinghero Ulysses Starke. His unit card is where I can issue an order to build the collectionfacility, so I right-click on his unit card and three types of buildable facilities pop up:Materials, Energy, and Tech. I'm going to build a Scrap Team facility first, which has a

    build cost of 1 AP-1 Human-2 Material-1 Energy.

    The facility will begin gathering resources on the next turn. I have 1 AP left, so I moveKusanagi toward the southern resource hex. There's an Independent facility called a"Strange Gate" in the hex between my home Base and the resource hex, so I want tocollect intel on what that might be.

    If I had 2 AP remaining, I could do some interesting things--in particular, I couldupgrade my Base, which would give it a higher defense rating and more hit points.

    Turn twenty-four, and I go second. I move the Indy South army again, and it's one spaceaway from the southern resource hex now. I should build another collection facility inthe northern resource hex, but I really want to show you how research works, so I drawanother card instead, hoping to draw a research facility. No luck, though, as I draw anImperial Infantry unit instead.

    With my last AP, I move Kusanagi into the "Strange Gate" hex, and discover anincredibly nasty unit called a "Corrupter" with an Attack-Defend of 13-13.

    Yikes.

    Turn twenty-five, and I win initiative. I move IndySouth into the southern resource hexand it's time to attack. With only a couple of 4-point Zombie units to defeat, the battle is

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    over in two turns, and now I control the southern resource hex as well.

    I have 8 AP left, and I draw two more cards, hoping (again) to get a research facility,but still no luck. I move Kusanagi away from danger in the Strange Gates hex, whichleaves me with 1 AP left. I move Recon East and the turn ends.

    Here's a screenshot of the area around my base at the end of turn twenty-five:

    As you can see, I'm potentially controlling quite a few resources, and if I can defendthose hexes, it's going to give me a substantial advantage in the game, both to deploynew units and have a better chance of winning the initiative roll each turn.

    Risks? That Machine Empire base two hexes away from my northern resource point isgoing to be a problem, because I'm within reach of air attacks. That's going to have to

    be dealt with, probably sooner rather than later. And I really haven't done a good job offortifying my Home base--I should have a few more units there, including one high-level unit, to discourage attacks. Remember, if your headquarters falls, it's game over.

    Turn twenty-six, and thanks to trading resources for dice, I win the initiative again andget 12 AP to use. I build a Recruit Center (it's a resource collection facility for Humanresources) on the southern resource hex. Then I deploy an Imperial Infantry unit card tomy home Base. I need to deploy a few unit cards to clear space for drawing what willhopefully be a research facility. Looking for the lowest cost unit card to deploy, I seeanother hero--Fulton Strangelove. He gets deployed to the home Base, and I have

    enough AP left over to draw two more cards--and I get skunked AGAIN (I get yetanother hero and a low-grade tank unit).

    Turn twenty-seven. I'm third this team, which means both my opponents get two fullturns in-between my last turn (I was first, remember) and this one.

    Bad things can happen in those situations. Like sniper/assassins reaching my area, or anattack that destroys a recon unit. Or both.

    My heroes survived, but I lost two recon units, and things are heating up very quickly.

    My most immediate danger is in the southern resource hex, where my hero is beinghunted. I move Kusanagi from the home Base, but she can't get there on this turn--she's

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    one hex short.

    In other words, if I don't get initiative on this next turn, I'm probably losing a hero (andhe has particularly useful skills for researching tactics, so I desperately want to keephim alive).

    I draw one more card--still no research facility, but I wind up discarding to low-leveltank recon units (no AP penalty to do discard, but you'll lose that card permanently). Ideploy one more Imperial Infantry to home Base with my remaining 2 AP and the turnis over.

    If you're wondering why I didn't deploy additional units into the army that's controllingthe southern resource hex (and whose hero is being hunted)--well, I can't. There's no

    base there--if there was, I could deploy any unit immediately. Without a base, though,the unit has to travel from the nearest base and join up with the army.

    Turn twenty-eight. I do win initiative, maxing out the dice pool at ten (although it costsme a ton of resources), but Kusanagi can't find the assassin, even when she reaches theresource hex. I draw another card and get lucky--it's Mata Boyd, who has a high stealthrating and is also a saboteur and spy. I deploy her, create an army ("Mata"), transfer herin, stealth her, and move her as close to the southern resource hex as I can. Now I havetwo units with high stealth ratings hunting the assassin.

    Who I still, unfortunately, can't find.

    I only have 2 AP left, and I can't deploy any additional units or build collection facilitieswith the AP I have left, so I take a flier and launch an air attack against the Strange GateHex. Which winds up doing no damage.

    The Xenopods launch an air attack against my Ozymandias unit, and unless I get it to abase immediately, it will be finished. Same goes for my hero, who survives anotherassassination attempt but is highly unlikely to survive a third.

    I win initiative on turn twenty-nine, though, and IndySouth is just one hex away fromreaching a base (and repair capabilities). I still can't find the assassin, though, and I'mstill vulnerable to an air attack. My movement options for the units I need to move areexhausted, so I go ahead and build an energy collection facility in the northern resource

    hex. I also draw one more good--still no %**$* research facility. The last thing I do onthis turn is to have Kusanagi travel with the IndySouth army--if a sniper makes anotherattempt, her stealth rating might detect the unit.

    Turn twenty-nine, and I go first. I realize that I can go to either the northern or theHome base with IndySouth--they're both one hex away. As a general rule, though, whenfacing equal distances, always move forces to your Home base (HQ) for repair. Youcan't lose the game if a peripheral base is destroyed, and the extra forces at HQ might becritically important. So I opt for the Home base, and repair both the hero of the army aswell as the Ozymandias unit.

    I have 3 AP left, and with 1 AP I move Kusanagi and discover a Machine Empire unitnorth of my Home base. It's just one unit, and it's a weak one, but it could be a concern

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    if it's gathering intel in preparation of a larger attack. I launch an air attack, but fail todamage the unit.

    During the Machine Empire's turn, they launch an air attack against my Home base. Thebase isn't damaged, but they do weaken a Grenadiers unit.

    On turn thirty, the Machine Empire wins initiative (two turns in a row again) andlaunches another airstrike. This attack finishes off my Grenadiers unit.

    I'm still trying to balance playing the game with getting the research facilities cards (aspart of the play guide), so I draw two cards, and while I don't get research facilities, I dodraw a base card, which I could use in the southern resource hex.

    I win initiative on turn thirty-one, have 12 AP, and immediately deploy the base card inthe southern resource hex. I repair my Home base (cost 5 AP), draw one more card, andthe turn is over.

    What I've done now is use resources to gain dice for the initiative roll, but now myresources are very low, so I'm going to have to accept getting no additional dice and

    probably going third for a while. Again, this game is continual decision-making in anattempt to balance your action points, resources, and units so that you maintain as manystrategic options as possible.

    On turn thirty-two (I'm going third), the Machine Empire attacks my Home base withsix units.

    In many games, this could be a finishing battle, and it probably would have been if I'dmoved IndySouth to the northern resource hex for repair instead of to HQ. But I did,which changes the odds substantially.

    When there are multiple armies in a hex, you'll be presented with a "battle order" screenso that you can choose which armies (on your side) go into battle first.

    This can be a tricky decision, particularly in this case, because I have one very powerfulunit (the MeBU-II Vengeance Mech unit) and one non-attacking unit (Ozymandias) inIndySouth, but I have four low-level units (Imperial Infantry types) in the army thatdefends HQ.

    The first instinct is to engage using the army with the higher number of units. Thinkabout that for a minute, though--if I'm facing six high-powered units, it doesn't matterwhat I do--I'm goignt to get my ass kicked. So as a strategic consideration, I have toassume that most of the attacking units are low level. If I sent in my low-level army, it'sgoing to be a battle of attrition, and I'll lose some of those units, even though in thesecond battle (with the Mech unit) I'll probably finish off the opposing army.

    If I send the Mech infirst, though, it's possible that those low-level units won't evendamage it, and if they can't, there's going to be no attrition--I'll just methodically wipethem out.

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    So I move IndySouth up in the battle order, so it goes into battle first. Here's a look atthe combat screen:

    My MeBU-II Vengeance unit is more

    powerful, by far, than any unit they have except for one (the "Styxx" unit), so mydecision was correct--I should be able to handle almost all these units unless I have badluck in the combat rolls.

    I don't, though, and even though the Vengeance unit takes some damage, it takes out allthe units. Whereupon anotherarmy attacks, but its units are also low level, and whilethey do take out the Ozymandias unit, that's the only unit loss I suffer.

    After a battle, the loser's hero will attempt to escape, and you have an opportunity tocapture or kill him. Remember this: always try to capture when you're given the option.Each hero you capture is worth an extra 3 AP a turn, which is a huge advantage. In thiscase, though, I unfortunately don't capture either.

    I know where the escaping heroes are, because they're in the same hex as one of myrecon units, just above my Home base. I send Kusanagi (an assassin) after them. Shecan't quite reach the hex, though, so they may escape for good.

    With my remaining 5 AP I repair the MeBU-II unit.

    Turn thirty-three, I go third, and the Machine Empire manages to hunt and kill anotherhero. Damn.

    Turn thirty-four, and I go third. I need lots of AP to do lots of things, and I'm not gettingthem, since I keep losing the roll. With only 6 AP, I decide to draw a card, even thoughI should probably deploy a unit. Finally, though I draw an Imperial Research Lab.

    Finally!

    I can't deploy it until the next turn, but it's good news. I try one more card, hoping to hita home run and draw a military college as well, but no go.

    Turn thirty-five, and I go third. I immediately deploy the Research Lab by dragging the

    card onto my Home base. I also deploy a Technologist/Geneticist Hero, HanibalZarkov, now that I can do research.

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    I only have 1 AP left, and I move Kusanagi back toward the Home base. I need toprotect that genetics researcher, because assassins will be coming after him.

    Turn thirty-six, and an assassin terminates another hero, this time at the northern

    resource hex. When it's my turn, I send Kusanagi in that direction, trying to get in-between the assassin and my home base.

    Since my Geneticist may not last long, let's do some research. Click on the rectangularattachment to the base. As an easier way to understand, just click on the base icon itselfwhen you want to seefacilities. Click on the rectangular extension when you want tosee units.

    Once the unit cards are displayed, right-click on the scientist that will be doing theresearch. You'll see a little pop-up menu with research options as well as their researchlevel. In my case, both Technologist and Geneticist are available, both at level 4.

    I choose "Geneticist," and here's a look at the search screen:

    Research is a dice-roll challenge. If a research card is specified as a "5 dice" challenge,then your researcher must roll 5 successful dice to complete the research. Right now,my researcher gets 5 dice to roll, plus 3 Fate points (which can be used to re-roll dice).So my chances of completing a 5-dice challenge are less than 50%, and if the researchfails, the resources and action points used in the attempt are just lost.

    However, I just need to complete it once to significantly improve my research, andhere's why. If I can complete the "Ascension Mutagen" research, get a unit enhancementcard that does the following: +2 Fate, +1 Technology, +1 Tactics, +1 Genetics. I canonly use this card on a hero, but that's exactly what I want, because If I use it on mygenetics researcher, it will raise his research level from 4 to 5. He'll get 1 more die toroll plus 2 more Fate points for re-rolls. In other words, that kind of researchenhancement is hugely useful, and this card also (if I remember correctly) gives the heroan additional hit point.

    Again, AP and resource costs for research are non-refundable. This time, though, I get

    lucky and win the dice challenge. I immediately deploy the card onto my Geneticist,who is now level 5. This will make research substantially easier on future turns.

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    I'll probably have one more installment to the Play Guide to explain Tactics research (ifI can draw a War College card!). After that, though, in combination with the excellentgame manual, you should know just about everything you need to enjoy thisoutstanding game.

    Armageddon Empires Play Guide: Part Six

    Previous installments:part onepart twopart threepart fourpart five

    This is the last installment of the play guide, and hopefully it's given you a worthwhileintroduction to what is an excellent, engrossing game. I also highly recommend thegame manual, which can be downloaded here.

    Please note that I do get into a fairly detailed discussion of Tactics research, which isvery important to playing the game. I just slog through a few turns before I get there.

    We left off at the end of turn thirty-six. I lose the initiative roll to begin turn thirty-sevenand go second. First, I deploy a hero from my deck (Winston Liu) into the Indy armythat's currently occupying the northern supply point. The hero commanding that armyhas recently been killed (see part five), and I wanted to get a new hero in place. Plus itonly costs me 1 AP.

    I draw another card (hoping for the war college, but no), then deploy an MoBV-VPanther tank unit into the southwest resource point. That ends my turn.

    The Machine Empire assassin, though, immediately finds the hero I've just deployed.This can be a very difficult part of the game, protecting your heroes, and I'm not doingwell this time. He gets a terrible roll and is terminated.

    Turn thirty-eight, and I'm informed that a saboteur has damaged a facility and five tech

    resources have been destroyed.

    This is frustrating, obviously, but it's another thing I really, really like about this game:it plays out on both large and small scales, and possible to succeed (or fail) either way.Saboteurs and assassins are highly vulnerable, but they can do a huge amount ofdamage if they're not found. It provides an additional layer of tension in the game thatcan get very high.

    When my turn arrives, I draw a card (tank unit), move Kusanagi in a futile attempt tofind the assassin, and move IndySouth (a hero and the Mech unit). I need to start doingsome damage, even on a small scale. [UPDATE: as it turns out, this is wrong, as reader

    Don Tordilla pointed out. I should have used a unit with a high recon rating, not a highstealth rating. No wonder I didn't find the assassin.]

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    Turn thirty-eight and let's just say "Oh, crap."

    The turn starts off fairly promising, as a Machine Empire air attack is both interceptedand destroyed by my defenses. Kusanagi detects an enemy unit in her hex, though, and

    when I inspect it, I see that it consists of five units, including a Behemoth (tank unit, 7-7attack-defend with 2x damage). They're headed for the northern resource hex I currentlycontrol.

    When my turn begins, I've unfortunately used so much AP intercepting the air attackthat all I can do is move IndySouth back to my northern base for defensive purposes.Kusanagi would have a chance to kill the enemy hero leading the invading army, but Idon't have enough AP.

    If I win initiative for the next turn, though, I have both extra AP and a chance for asuccessful assassination. I blow out a huge number of resources to max out my die pool

    and do win initiative on turn thirty-nine.

    First off, Kusanagi makes an assassination atttempt against the hero. Actually, I maketwo assassination attempts, and the second is successful. I've also drained my AP for theturn, but that army no longer has a leader, which means they've lost all their combat

    bonuses, which could be critical.

    When the Machine Empire's turn rolls around, they continue air attacks on my northernbase, and my intercept attempts on each attack consume AP. So it's a war of attrition intwo ways--they're trying to destroy units in advance of a ground attack, but they're alsolimiting my ability to do anything offensive during my own turn.

    They also find Kusanagi, who I stupidly left in the same hex as her assassinationattempt, and she's been terminated, which was entirely my fault.

    I launch my own air attack during my turn (and with my reduced AP, it's my only actionfor the turn). Unfortunately, it does almost no damage.

    Turn forty, and the Machine Empire doesn't attack this turn. I immediately deployanother hero into the IndySouth army, draw a card, and I have enough AP left foranother air attack. This time, I destroy an artillery unit.

    Forty-one, and I draw another card, still looking for the war college. That fails, and Ideploy one more artillery unit.

    Forty-two, and I use as many resources as I can to get enough dice to win the turninitiative, which I do. I then deply another MeBU-II Vengeance mech unit. I now havetwo in the same army, and that will be a combat machine.

    Turn forty-three, and I immediately start moving the MeBU-II army (IndySouth) to thehex immediately northeast, surprising a sniper unit which I quickly dispatch. With only2 AP left, I decide to upgrade my Home base to level 2 (which adds hit points and

    improves defenses).

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    On turn forty-four, the Xenopods attack me by air as well. In spite of my mech army,I'm not looking too "survivable" right now. But just because I'm ornery, I moveIndySouth one more hex to the northeast and attack the Machine Empire base.

    Here's a look:

    The base I took over is an ICBM missile complex, which explains where the air attackswere coming from. Not any more, thanks very much.

    I've got trouble on both fronts, though. The Xenopods lay siege to my southwesternresource hex, and an assassin attempts to take out the hero leading IndySouth. He fails,

    but the hero won't survive another attempt, and I need to use the remaining 3 AP in thisturn to do something to help my defenses in the soutwestern resource hex.

    I wound up losing the southwestern base over the next two turns--the Xenopodslaunched an air attack, which took out one of my defending units, and my remainingunit was just mop-up work for the ground forces.

    However, I did FINALLY draw the War College card. I also immediately deployed it atmy Home base.

    I won initiative on turn forty-whatever, and I've got 12 AP, so let's take a good look attactics and how they work. When you have a War College at a base as well as a herowith the ability to research tactics (which will be noted on its unit card), you have the

    ability to research tactics. This is similar to Genetics research, except what you'reresearching are cards that can be used to change battle outcomes, so they are incrediblyimportant.

    I right-click on the unit card of hero Fulton Strangelove, and "Tactician 4" pops up,which I then select. Here's the tactics research screen that I see next:

    http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dPztQu3bG3c/RvHHjQo6J9I/AAAAAAAAAIg/PI0VHNYHsgI/s1600-h/fortyfive.JPG
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    As you can see, there are some powerful cards to research. +3 Fate points in a battle,rerolling 3 successful dice of an opponent, +2 success dice, turn 2 success dice intofailures--those could all be huge in the course of a battle.

    All these cards are single-use--they go into a special tactics deck, and when you usethem, they're gone. That doesn't mean you can't research them again and get anothercard, but one research attempt, if successful, nets you one, single-use card.

    If that sounds like a bad deal, it's not, because research attempts only cost AP, notresources, so it's a way to improve your chances in battle without having to consumeresources in the process of research.

    We'll research something easy, so that we can have a better chance of success, so let'sgo with "For the Empire," which is a two-dice challenge that gets you a card worth +3Fate points in battle.

    The research is successful, and I accept the +3 Fate card. If I want to see the cards in mytactics deck, and my other card set is showing, all I need to do is click on the "Tactics"

    button and my tactics cards will be displayed.

    You're limited to 5 tactics cards in your deck at any one time. I go ahead and do a fewmore +3 Fate research attempts, since it only costs me 1 AP, until I fill out my tacticsdeck.

    Remember, Genetics research can create unit modification cards which raise your hero'sresearch level by 1, which would take my tactician to level 5, giving him more dice andmore Fate points. So research can combine in interesting ways.

    Now I just need to find a battle to be able to show you the tactics cards in action. Overthe course, of two turns, I move the IndySouth mech army to the west and find aMachine Empire base.

    I attack.

    This time, though, when I see the screen about arranging my units for battle, my tactics

    cards are shown at the bottom. Take a look:

    http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dPztQu3bG3c/RvHOego6J-I/AAAAAAAAAIo/-zGzcGIMUSs/s1600-h/tactics.JPG
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    When battle begins, you'll have the option to use your tactics cards at any time you'redefending, and if you're attacking and the defender uses fate points or tactics cards, youcan use them then (in response) as well.

    Let's look at a typical situation, which is shown in this screenshot:

    Actually, since I'm only losing the roll 6-5 and will take only minor damage, I probablywouldn't normally use a tactics card here, but for the sake of demonstration, let's say itwas an 8-4 roll against me instead. Since I'm out of Fate points, the only thing I coulddo to lower the damage would be to play one of my tactics cards--in this case, a +3 Fatecard, since it's all I have. I just drag the card up into the "Play Tactics Card Here" box

    and I immediately have 3 more Fate points, which I use to reroll dice until I eliminate asmuch damage to my unit as I can.

    You can use a combination of Fate points and Tactics cards during battle, and so canyour opponent, so battles can be tumultous affairs--you've got dice rolling, Fate pointsrerolling, and Tactics cards doing all kinds of things.

    Which is extremely fun. It's another example of how Armageddon Empires isremarkably dynamic in combat.

    Here's one last note about battles. It's possible for an enemy to have several armies

    stacked in the same hex (it's possible for you as well), and you get to specify battleorder before combat starts. If you're fighting several battles on the same turn with the

    http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dPztQu3bG3c/RvHTXgo6KAI/AAAAAAAAAI4/mDbfH8Tx7-4/s1600-h/battle.JPGhttp://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dPztQu3bG3c/RvHR0go6J_I/AAAAAAAAAIw/Ptppn-17xvI/s1600-h/arrange.JPG
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    same army, though, your Fate points are a pool for that turn that you have to spread outover all the battles, not something that gets refreshed each time you face a new army.Don't blow out your Fate points in the first battle, thinking that they'll be renewed.

    Well, that should give you a good start in playing Armageddon Empires. It was a

    fantastic effort by Vic Davis and his team, and I hope the game gets all the attention thatit deserves. And if you've read all the installments of this play guide, thanks very muchfor taking the time.

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