WarGear Wiki

On the scenarios other than Open Start, you have several options. You can choose to go straight for your barony (or the center on the 13 x 13), straight for a dukedom, or split your starting troops between both objectives (this is a more viable opening on the 23 x 23 scenario).

While it is helpful to secure an early dukedom, mostly for posing an offensive threat to your neighbor and preventing them from doing the same to you, this will slow your progress toward the center. However, if your neighbor takes a dukedom first, it will be hard to root them out. You will have to rely on keeping a step ahead in your aggressive rush toward the center, and likely sacrifice any chance at a dukedom.

In general, on all scenarios, you want to aim to have a strong presence in the antechamber as soon as possible. The timing is tricky, as you have to monitor your production status (from any dukedoms or baronies you control), the threat posed by any opponents that are occupying a dukedom neighboring your base, and of course your opponents' progress toward the center. Always remember that you are limited to advancing only 6 tiles per turn – the worst possible outcome for you is to let an opponent reach the throne while your units are still out of reach for a retaliatory strike.

Make sure to take advantage of the fact that territories don't revert to neutral until the end of turn. Used properly, this setting and the fact that the -2 Hell Rock penalty applies at the beginning of the turn combine to give you fairly cheap access to long supply lines. A properly planned supply linecan help you launch an assault on the center a turn sooner than you might otherwise be able to, and it can also help transit troops from your dukedom(s) to the permanent supply line running from base → (barony →) antechamber → throne along the transporter tiles.