AoW

The Art of War: Battlemaster edition.

This guide is for those who have been appointed Vice Marshal for the first time all the way to the senior General wanting to give out pearls of wisdom. We'll try to cover every aspect of war and battles in battlemaster, though the reader should already be familiar with unit settings.

You'll see recommended line settings (example in the below box), where experienced Generals can show what settings they would use in different situations:

General	Brant
Infantry	Front, Line, Aggressive
Archers	Middle, Line, Defensive
Mixed Infantry	Don't use them
Cavalry	Back, Wedge, Aggresive
Special Forces	Rearguard, Skirmish, Evasive
Marshal Settings	No particular

Types of Wars

The reason for war will rarely matter to those fighting it, though having (or being able to invent) a good reason for war will increase your Noble's motivation and willingness to participate. This guide is not meant to cover diplomacy.

The cold war:

When relations are deteriorating with your neighbors, even if they're allied, usually involves military maneuvers along a shared border, frequent scouting and intelligence gathering. Sometimes, when you want to fight an 'accidental' battle, murderous settings may be ordered.

The supporting war:

If there is a war that for some reason you can't get directly involved in, this is it. These are usually fought without troops, by sending the supported realm food or gold. Militarily your army may be guarding a region for your allies, while they fight their war or even just showing a presence to discourage your ally's enemies. On rare occasions, nobles of the supported realm may temporally join your realm in order to make use of your recruitment centers. (This is frowned upon by almost all players... on par with a noble abandoning his oath.)

The open war:

Straightforward and brutal. Anything not considered too dishonorable is on the table this is the traditional, "you insulted me", "I want your land" war. Battles are likely to occur in the open or with fortifications and all participants are usually at war or allied with the others.

The hateful war:

Your enemies are the worst scum possible. They deserve death, torture and worse if you can manage. This is the no-holds-barred war which is usually a degeneration of another type of war.

The honorable war:

This war is started over a point of honor, like aiding your allies in a war when they're attacked or because your king was insulted during a tournament. There's no animosity between the realms at war, no spite between it's nobles, yet they fight. Usually arrangements are made for prisoner release, looting and occasionally region take over restrictions. These agreements can be enforced by a third party or uninvolved realm.