Here's a topic I haven't seen covered, getting the most out of your initial deployment from your castle.

Let's talk about map 1. It is used for AutoBattle's 1 and 2 and Battles 1, 2 and 3. It is the oldest and most well known map since it was the ONLY map for a long time and old vets know it very well.

( A link to a page with all the battle maps)
home.earthlink.net/~johnoco/wolBattleTutorial2.html

Generally you want to move the troops that you want to be in the front first. If you are in the upper castle, this means going out the top of the castle, in the lower castle, you want to come out the lower side of the castle.

Some troops are faster than others, of course. You can move your Heavy Cavalry almost to the first walls on this move. I like to take my Marksmen out and put them just off the road. That way they can jump right back on but they don't clutter up the road. Then I want my Macemen ready to move to the 4/3 hex setup past the walls (at least, I do this often, not always ) on the next turn so I move them up on the road behind the HC.

Archers, spearmen and assorted others can go out the lower side of the castle and this leaves them about 5 hexes back from the upper troops. They will barely make it to being behind the front line on the next turn, so use the troops you probably won't need right away.

Depending on your opponent, you may want to move up just as far as you can, disregarding having a ragged front line, especially if you know your opponent is very defense-oriented.

Don't make troops go around other troops when getting out of the castle, try to have a clear lane to where you want to go. If you are using Demons, of course, you can fly a lot out.

If you make a horrible mistake early on, like on your first turn, consider holding back and reforming. The opponent won't be able to get to you and you will be in a position to take advantage of any errors he makes, like isolating one troop way out front looking for you.

Keep that ranged back, for goodness sake! Having a weak shot from behind your front lines isn't worth losing 2 Marksmen to ranged attack on the next turn. Usually you are better off just being able to hit whatever is 1 or 2 hexes in front of your front line. The exception is if you can take out the opponent's ranged because it is too close to the front.

Another tip: if you leave troops in the back, whatever is up front will get the whole attack. If you put more power troops up front the opponent will often spread out the attack over many of your troops. That's a lot better than suddenly having no front line and holes behind it to get at your ranged.

Study your options for deploying. You will get a set routine which can be moved very quickly.

why didn't coop explain it like that

because everybody deploys differently and i assumed that you'd be able to figure it out.

i know i'm just ripping on ya man

i know