The numbers game

 
If the right two territories are yours and the other four belong to your enemy (the brown ones are impassable), then advancing from both your territories will ensure that you win either border battle, should there be one, and also have the advantage if there are none.  A battle like this makes for a major Fury pickup in the early game.  One way to set up a battle like this is to build a large force in your interior territory (closer to your fortress and/or vulnerable territories), then move up a large force from behind and when you move it into your interior territory, move the forces from there into the exterior territory.

     


      If you are fighting with a different type of lesser than your enemy, it is useful to do some calculations to ensure that you can get a victory.  This is fairly straightforward.  Take the number of lessers you will have and multiply that by their OF rating (see units for details); this will be your offense (YO).  Take the number of lessers you will have and multiply that by 100; divide that by 100 minus your lessers' DF rating (68 for crusaders, 58 for Amra, etc.) to get your defense (YD).  Similarly, generate EO and ED values for your enemies' forces.  If ED/YO < YD/EO then you should win the battle.  Remember, though, that the larger your advantage the less forces you will lose in the process.  You'll win fighting 120 vs. 100, but you'll do better fighting 130 vs. 100.

• Set up a defensive line first so that you stall your enemy's advance.
• Constantly move troops to the border to build up forces.
• Take any battle where you can win both the border battle (if it happens) and the territory battle assuming all possible reinforcements.
• Retreat from any position you cannot defend.
• Send one lesser into every forest your enemy holds, every turn.  Even if you lose every time, you still get to see what's in the forests.
• Send a test lesser into any territory where you think your enemy may pull out all forces (vulnerable positions or massive attacks).  Sometimes you will get lucky, but any time you can take T from your enemy, even if just for a turn, gives you an advantage.
• If the front is three or more turns from your original fortress, built an advance one.
• Try to prevent every possible advance by your enemy.
• Move reinforcements through forests wherever convenient.
• Avoid moving large groups through Dunes whenever possible.
• Keep expanding on other fronts if possible.
• Do not fight battles you cannot win, you are only giving your enemy fury.

Diplomacy

     If you did the right things in the opening maneuvers, you should have allies helping you in your wars.  However, sometimes allies don't check in or get distracted by other wars, and of course there are always those who will break nonaggression pacts and add an unexpected new front to the problem.  For this reason, it is best not to be overly aggressive in your contacts with the people you are fighting and to have secure deals with the people you are working with.  You may suddenly find yourself needing to call a cease-fire in one war to concentrate on another, and that can be very difficult if you have cursed all of their ancestors.  Also, try to form a group that can share Treasure and/or Fury so that if you need a short-term loan you can get some help.  Don't promise too much too quickly to your non-ally neighbors; you don't want to box yourself in by making deals with everyone around you.  Try to keep expanding on two fronts at all times, but don't try to handle three until the mid-game.  Keep in touch with the people around you.  Feel out the situations around your enemy; look for possible help if things go wrong and possible targets if things go right. As a general rule of thumb, try not to be someone's only foe (unless they are very small) and try to avoid being their biggest problem. The best situation is when your enemy is focusing most of their resources on fighting someone else. The worst is when you are doing the grunt fighting and an "ally" takes the spoils, the good ones share, the greedy ones vulture.

Spells

     The proper management of Fury and the use of spells is what really separates the average players from the good ones.  There is one key concept for using spells in battle:  if you can win the battle and get more Fury than you spent on the spell, take it (although keep in mind how much fury the enemy may get as well).  Remember, though, that combat spells do not effect border battles.  Don't cast combat spells if you can't ensure that the battle will take place.  Otherwise, you're going to be flushing Fury down the drain. (Although sometimes you are willing to spend 50 fury for peace of mind, such as in defending a key structure)

     In the early game, the spells likely to be most useful are Head of Nergal (25 F), Spiral Deflector (50 F), Terrible Slobber (40 F), and Hand of Nergal (75 F)  Hand of Nergal is good if you have an overwhelming force and your enemy has over 100 lessers but is likely to retreat.  Terrible Slobber is useful if you need to keep enemy lessers out of a position (a structure for example) that you cannot otherwise defend with lessers. Head of Nergal and Spiral deflector are most useful when your enemy is advancing, expecting a win on numbers, but can also be used if you can ensure winning the border battle but not the territory battle.  You can calculate how much of an impact these spells will have by using the battle formula for lessers with the appropriate modified OF and DF numbers.  Remember: only cast the spell if you will get both a victory and more Fury than you spent (and don't forget that the enemy also gets fury). All the spell effects can be found in the Tome of K'Ar Tuf (located within the games themselves).

     In the mid-game, Optic Terror (125 F) is useful for attacking fortresses and in close confines.  Splitting a group of several hundred into thirds or fifths can make an overwhelming force a surmountable obstacle.  (Optic terror deploys all lessers in the region it is cast on to any of the regions they border, or to Hold. Effectively splitting the army into many smaller armies)

Consider the following scenario:
     If the right two territories are yours and the central one belongs to your enemy, casting an Optic Terror will divide that 400 into 5 groups of 80 (with some variance).  If you send all your forces into the center, you will win two border battles ("120 vs. 80" each) and the territory battle ("90+90 vs. 80" since around 30 would die in each border battle) for a net Fury gain of around 115 (240 enemy slain -125 Optic Terror cost). You have also killed 3/5 of that army, but more importantly take then Choke point.

     Although when the numbers of lessers get up into the hundreds, Suckerman is really the key spell. (Suckerman orders all units bordering a given region to go into that region regardless of their initial orders)   Imagine, for example that you cast the Optic Terror but your enemy cast Suckerman.  Since he spent more Fury (160), his spell would take effect and he would get a net gain of 80 Fury and you would still lose the 125 you spent on the Optic Terror, not to mention he would have totally wiped out your army, kept his position, and had a good 300 left to press on further into your empire.  See Advanced Battles for more on Suckerman.

• Only cast spells where you are sure battles will happen to your advantage.
• Keep track of your enemy's Fury in the Citadel to see if you may have to overcast or protect against spells.
• Make sure you will get more Fury back than you spent, or if not, that the battle is important enough to win.
• Cast the most cost-efficient spell for your situation (Head of Nergal is more effective and cheaper than Diablo Spear if you are using Crusaders).
• Try not to cast Star-Piercer (you will want to use that fortress to advance with), Raw Knuckle, or SawTooth. (Although these spells all have their unique uses in specific situations).
• Careful when using Jaws of Life or Granapult, they are very expensive (especially if the battle does not even happen)
• Don't GrunchGuard with more than 30 troops if your enemy is capable of casting Hand of Nergal (troops held on a mountain/water get destroyed automatically). Unless you WANT him to cast hand of Nergal (as fury is more precious than treasure...usualy)

Black Betweens

     Black Betweens are essential because the number of them you have affects every battle you fight with lessers.  You should cast the first BB as soon as you are able, unless you are already in the middle of a war and need the Fury for a battle spell that will increase your Fury total.  In that case, wait till after, then cast it.  Alternatively, you may be able to steal one from an enemy; however, but don't fight at a lesser disadvantage for more than a few turns because it will wear you down, particularly in the early game.  With the second one, wait until you have about 450F before casting it.  With the third one, 800F.  After that, the BB's produce diminishing returns.  Rarely does anyone need to have 4 BB's to win the game.

• Put your BB's somewhere that you can get at them from both sides, preferably between fortresses; if you should ever lose it, you want to be sure to be able to retake it , but you don't want to lose it if you can avoid it.
• Don't cut off paths with your BB's; even though that may be a safe border now, you may need to move on it if your ally gets taken out by someone else.
• Capture enemy BB's as quickly as possible.  With dunes types and higher, use land-morphing spells to destroy them if you can spare the F and you already own that type.
• Try to keep BB's as far away from the front as possible.
• Plan in advance, since the upgrading function of the Black Between won't take effect until the beginning of next tick.