I have decided to undertake my own strategy section. This section will include beginner, intermediate, and advanced tactics. The strategy in this game is very deep and there is no way that this section can be fully comprehensive. Additionally, some of the strategies I will discuss are opinion based and I encourage anyone to devise strategies to counter the strategies that are presented. Note: While certain strategies in this section apply to both sealed and constructed deck games, this section is focused primarily on sealed.

Watching Replays: When I use a replay for analysis I will often try to point to a specific move(s) or specific turn(s). However, I will provide a few tips to watching replays. As Rothmorthau pointed out in his "10 Replays..." post, the first thing you should when watching a replay is look at the cards that both players bring. While you may not know the entire pool of cards that a player picked from (in sealed games), you will get an idea over time of the cards players bring when they receive them in their pool.

Additionally I have two other comments about watching replays that will allow you to get the most out of them:

1) While watching a replay from the "everyone" view is fun because you get to see the entirety of what is happening, you actually learn more by watching a replay from a good player's point of view. The reason is that in the everyone view it is often difficult to appreciate what player's can and cannot see - and most often decisions are based on this information. Additionally, it is easy to forget the exact cards each player has at his disposal when watching the everyone view, and the available cards (not to mention available gold) also play a big role in decision making. (Perhaps in the future a method of seeing both player's cards while watching the everyone view will be available.)

2) Some maps are large and involve a crucial battle on two or three sections of the map at once. It is impossible to discern crucial decisions by watching a turn one time when there is more than one important battle occurring at once. While it may seem like all the action is happening on the left side of the map where 80% of the units are engaged, a game can often be won on the other side of the map where there are just a few units and one person finds a way to win that battle. When there are multiple battles at once, I suggest watching that turn multiple times, where each time you simply watch the battle on the left, middle, or right.

If you are not familiar with the "tick movement system" in Battle Dex you should first read here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2455&hilit=tick

Capturing Factories

This has probably been discussed many times but it is so important that it is worth mentioning yet again. When you intend to capture a factory that may have artillery protecting it (regardless of whether the other player controls it) you want your infantry to move onto the factory with his final move. Standard infantry have three movement, so the turn before capturing the factory you want to position your infantry three hexes away. Then on the next turn you can move onto the factory with your final move that turn to maximize your infantry's chance of survival (and hence, capture).

But sometimes your opponent will have enough artillery or other units protecting a factory that moving on the final move of a turn is not enough to insure survival. In this situation, you will likely need to send in some sacrificial units ahead of the infantry on the turn you attempt to capture the factory. Recons are especially good for this. Because recons move faster than infantry, they will move into range of enemy artillery first and therefore draw the first round of shots. And unless the opponent could see your infantry and prioritized it, the recon units that took one artillery shot will generally take the second shot as well, because the default targeting shoots the troop with the lowest health.

This concept is fairly straightforward. Rothmorthau already listed a good replay regarding this strategy that can be found in "Replay #4" here: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3127

Control Points Versus Factories

A big aspect of strategy involves how quickly in a match a player should focus on capturing control points. Should I rush an infantry to my nearest control point or should I ignore control points and focus on factories first?

My general answer is to focus on factories first. Tournament games have 30 potential rounds. If you can kill more units and earn more gold you should be able to win in one of two ways: (1) Recapture the control points and eventually retake the lead in victory points; (2) Destroy your opponents base, while possibly recapturing some control points to keep him from reaching the victory points for an instant win.

Island Paradise: This map is a major exception to my general rule. On this map there are only two control points and each one is easily defensible. You generally want to capture the control point closest to you very quickly.

Example: Rothmorthau uses this game as an example of how resources and control points give vision but it is an excellent game to also use to show how difficult it can be to take your opponent's control point on Island Paradise, even when you control all three middle factories. seanpaul does rush in early and does take some unnecessary shots prior to his rush. But Witcher does an excellent job of showing how easy it is to defend your control point on this map and why it is important to capture it quickly.

http://www.battledexgame.com/game.php?game_id=23778

The Battle In The Middle: Another reason why it is better to go for resources first is because most maps lend themselves to a situation where there will be an early conflict for control of the middle. Often if one player can decisively win the battle for the middle, he will ultimately win the match.

Spending resources to send an infantry off to the side to grab a control point can be the difference in winning the battle in the middle. Perhaps you get destroyed in the battle for the middle because your opponent used a blind card, and the money spent on the infantry sent to the control point could have been used on a second recon.

EXAMPLES TO COME LATER