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Found a bug, have a question, or want to suggest a battle? Email geoffbaron@gmail.com. We read every message and aim to reply within a few business days.
New to the game?
Open The Drill Field at the top of the battle list. Seven short lessons teach everything below by doing it, and the Field Manual beside it explains the tactics any time, even mid-battle from the pause menu.
How to play on iPhone and iPad
- Select: tap one of your blue units. A gold ring shows it is selected, and the circle around it is its firing range.
- Move: drag from a selected unit to draw its line of march, then let go.
- Survey: pinch to zoom and drag empty ground to pan. The terrain button shows the ground.
- Begin: place your forces, then press Begin Battle. Nothing moves until you do.
- Formation: with a unit selected, the button at bottom right switches Line, Column and Skirmish. Rally steadies a shaken unit.
How to play on the Mac
| Click | Select a unit |
| Shift + click | Add a unit to the selection, or take it out |
| Drag from a unit | Draw its line of march |
| Right-click | Send the selected units straight there |
| Drag empty ground | Pan the map |
| Scroll or pinch | Zoom |
| Space | Begin, pause or resume |
| Tab | Next unit |
| Cmd + A | Select all troops |
| F / R | Change formation / Rally |
| T / O / X | Terrain overlay / Whole field or close-up / Battle speed |
| Arrows or WASD, + and − | Pan and zoom |
| Esc / H | Menu / Show every key |
How battles are won
Every battle has a five-minute clock. When it runs out, the defender wins only by still holding at least one flag with a quarter of its army left; otherwise the attacker wins. Take every enemy flag and destroy every enemy unit and you win at once.
Tips from the field
- Pin the enemy from the front, then hit a flank or the rear. Flank fire does half again as much harm; rear fire two and a half times.
- Halt before you fire. Moving troops shoot at a third of their strength.
- Hold woods, walls, sunken roads and high ground. Units that hold still dig in.
- Keep guns behind your line. Close in they fire canister; caught by infantry, they are lost.
- Watch the cartridges. Refill near your own flags, or near a general when out of the fight.
- Keep something back. In many battles reinforcements arrive partway through, as they did in history.
Purchases
The Historical Campaigns, Grant's Campaigns and The Western Campaigns are one-time purchases tied to your Apple ID. On a new device, open either campaign's store card and choose Restore purchases. Refunds are handled by Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com.