By John Richards
(a.k.a. SpiritMaster)

First, take some time to go through your kingdom’s population and look at each Spirit’s detail screen. Get familiar with the capabilities and limitations of your pieces. A good dungeon will require a balance of energy, combat and defender spirits, as well as spells.

The amount and type of energy you have available in your pool each turn will dictate what you are capable of accomplishing. Playing with a dungeon which draws all of its spirits from one terrain type would allow you to set the primary and secondary colors of your castle to match, guaranteeing 3 points per turn of your chosen energy type. The advantage to this is that you can avoid an ‘energy mismatch’ situation, where you are putting Woodlands energy pieces into play but your courtyard is full of Flatlands combat pieces. There are two main disadvantages to this single homeland strategy. First, there are over 700 combat maps, and restricting yourself to a single friendly terrain type can be dangerous if sand dunes and mountains surround your Wetlands castle. There are also a few combat spirits that are immune from attacks by their natural enemy (example: Darklands units can not hurt Mathuran Tigers, however, the tigers CAN be affected by Darklands spells).

As in most of life’s hostile encounters, spotting your enemy before he sees you gives you a significant edge. Include some scouts in your mix. An ideal scout would have a high movement allowance, be able to see a long distance, be able to move on the turn that it is activated, and not cost any energy to move. There are no spirits that combine all of these qualities, but there are several that come close, and the application of the proper attribute spell can turn a good scout into a great scout.

Ranged attack units like slingers, spearmen, and archers can attack from up to 2 hexes away, a few can attack from as far as 3 hexes away.  There are wizards and clerics who can affect any enemy unit currently in sight. There are also direct damage spells and attribute affecting spells that can be targeted at any visible enemy unit. This presents a challenge to the basic sword-carrying infantryman. Preferred strategies include: rushing forward (ideally with the help of a spell/spell caster that increases movement and accompanied by several other like-minded units); slogging forward one hex per turn (best for tougher spirits, preferably with the ability to heal themselves or that can be healed by spells or other friendly units); advancing under the protective umbrella of Defender units; or hanging around the home castle waiting for friendly archers and timely spells to reduce the danger of moving forward. The best course will depend on the spells available, the local terrain, the skill level of one’s opponent, and whether or not the unit can be raised from the dead.

At the beginning of a game the map is visible in a 2 hex radius from the home castle. With energy spirits it seems straightforward enough: +1 energy per turn if located in its matching terrain type. It is tempting to cast a Sawmill in a Woodlands hex adjacent to the castle. There it would produce 2 green energy per turn instead of the single point it would generate if located in any other type of terrain. Often the early energy boost this can provide can get a critical combat piece into play one turn sooner. On the other hand, energy spirits can be cast into any hex adjacent to a friendly spirit, whereas combat spirits MUST enter the playing field adjacent to the castle. Since only a few select energy spirits can move once put into play, clogging the entry hexes beside the castle can make bringing new combat units into play slow and difficult. If possible, cast a cheap combat unit first, and then on the same turn cast the energy piece next to it, 2 spaces away from the castle. In a perfect world, you would cast the energy spirit on the side of the castle away from your opponent, but you won’t always know which side that is.

A player who hopes to reach the top of the Valhalla rankings must fully understand how map terrain affects game play. A Drylands (yellow) unit in a Drylands hex gets +1 to its attack strength. Equally important, this unit would ignore the first point of damage from each and every attack. Suppose a Desert Jackal (yellow; attack strength=1, defense strength=1) was adjacent to a Moesian Lion (brown; attack strength=1, defense strength=1). If both were in Woodlands hexes both would inflict one point of damage on the other and both would die. However, if the Jackal were in a Drylands hex, it would suffer no damage, and could kill the Lions. Put the Lions in their natural Highlands terrain, and once again the combatants would kill each other. Another thing to remember is that combat is sequential, one-on-one. This means that a spirit surrounded by 6 enemies can be attacked by each in succession but not by all at once. A Jackal in the desert, surrounded by Lions in the forest can NOT be damaged, and can destroy the first Lion who tries.

In the free version, both players have an equal chance to be Player One or Player Two. Similarly, play order will be randomly assigned in the member version for players within 10 rating points of their opponent. However, to maintain play balance in the member version, players with a ranking more than 10 points below their opponent will automatically be Player Two. Player One has the advantage of being able cast spells first, and declare attacks first in the attack phase. Player Two has the advantage of moving second in the movement phase. In general, this should only amount to a slight edge for the lower ranked player. Player Two can take advantage of moving last by trading space for time. When Player One moves his Roman Legion up to attack Player Two’s Archers, the Archers can nimbly step back one hex and shoot the helpless Legion full of arrows. It is important to know if one’s Archers have an energy cost associated with movement. If they do, and the energy pool is dry, they aren’t skipping anywhere (except maybe the morgue). Player One should mass 3 or more units to rush the archers and close the distance to the enemy castle. Sending spirits forward one at a time is suicidal (unless the one spirit happens to be Hercules or Thor, for example).

The Defender class is one of SpiritWars’ unique features. Although a Defender can not initiate combat, Defenders can intercept an attack if one is declared within their blocking radius. This allows a player to shelter his combat and energy units. Each Defender can block one attack per turn, absorbing damage that might otherwise destroy more valuable spirits. Defenders with a blocking power greater than zero will also inflict damage on enemy attackers. Defenders that are being attacked directly aren’t blocking anything, so their blocking power is not applied. It is best to attack Defenders that have a blocking power directly, rather than allowing them to block an attack on another spirit. Since they can be cast into any hex adjacent to a friendly spirit, Defenders can be used as forward defense units. Most can not block on their first turn in play; read the spirit detail screen in your dungeon editor to find those that can. Try to place Defenders in their home terrain whenever possible. A Defender’s job is to soak up damage, and being protected from the first point in each attack can extend their life and usefulness. Also, keep in mind, defenders DO NOT receive a Homeland Bonus on Blocking Power, only defense.