How do I set up a Skirmish battle?
To set up a Skirmish battle, select New Game → Skirmish from the Main Menu.
In the top-right corner of the Skirmish menu, use the drop-down menu to select the map on which the battle will take place. The panel below shows the selected map’s size and maximum player count, alongside a basic layout of the map, with white dots indicating the starting locations of each player. For more information on starting locations, see Starting Location below.
The number in brackets next to each map name indicates the maximum player count for that map. For example, (2) indicates that only 2 armies can fight on that map, hence it is a 1 vs 1 map. (4) indicates a 2 vs 2 map, and so on. You can filter the maps by maximum player count using the second drop-down box, by selecting 1 vs 1, 2 vs 2, 3 vs 3 or 4 vs 4.
Once you have selected your map, select which side you wish to fight on by tapping a player slot under either Allies or Axis and selecting Move to this slot. Set up the other player slots by tapping on them and selecting either an Easy, Normal, Hard or Expert AI player to fill them. You can also choose to Close a slot to remove the current occupant, though there must be at least one army present on each side to start a match.
Finally, you can adjust the following settings in the bottom-right corner:
- Win Condition: Choose between Annihilate and Victory Point Condition.
- In Annihilate matches, the winner is the first player to take out all enemy units and base structures.
- In Victory Point Condition matches, the map contains a number of Victory Points, and each side starts with a score (500, by default). To win, players must control more Victory Points than their opponent by capturing and defending them; doing so slowly reduces the opposing team’s score. One side wins when the other’s score reaches zero. You can set the amount of Victory Points required to win using the Victory Point Ticker dropdown.
- In Annihilate matches, the winner is the first player to take out all enemy units and base structures.
- Starting Location: Choose between Random and Fixed. Axis and Allies forces always start on opposite sides of the map. However:
- When you select Fixed, the white dots on the map layout become numbered to indicate where each player’s starting location will be. To swap which side of the map the Axis and Allies forces start on, press the the Swap Start Location button.
- When you select Random, the starting locations on each side are randomised.
- When you select Fixed, the white dots on the map layout become numbered to indicate where each player’s starting location will be. To swap which side of the map the Axis and Allies forces start on, press the the Swap Start Location button.
- Starting Resources: Choose between Standard and High Resources. High Resources allow each side to build more structures and recruit more units earlier in the match.
- Atmosphere: Select the time of day/weather conditions for the battle. This option is only available on certain maps.
When you are happy with your settings, select the green arrow button in the bottom-right corner to begin the battle.