Reserves

Reserves

What Are Reserves?

Reserves represent reserve troops that can be "called up" to the front when a player has accumulated a set of three. A single Reserve is awarded to a player at the end of every turn in which that player has taken a region. When a player calls up reserves, they will have extra troops to deploy.

Types of Reserves

Shades: Reserves come in three shades: black, gray, and white. A set of three Reserves can be called up when a player possesses one of each shade or three of one shade. Regardless of game setting, Reserve shade has no impact on the troop value.

Affiliation: Each reserve is affiliated with a particular region on the map. If a player happen to control that region, and they use that Reserve as part of a set, a bonus of two troops will be automatically added to that region.

Troop Value: There are four different settings for Reserves, established when the game is created. Escalating, Escalite, and Flat Rate assign different values to a given set of Reserves, and No Reserves eliminates them from the game completely.

Calling Up Reserves

At the beginning of a player's turn, if they have a set of three, they may "call up" the Reserves to get extra troops for deployment. If a player has five Reserves, they MUST call them up. The Reserves of a defeated player are awarded to the player who knocked them out of the game, and that player MUST call up Reserves mid-turn if they have five or more, which allows them to deploy additional troops. However, if they have four or fewer, they cannot call them up even if they have a set.

Escalating Reserves

Value: 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 20, 25, 30,...

Description: The first set of Reserves called up by any player is worth 4 extra troops, the second set is worth 6, and so on.

Strategy It's usually better to try and wait and call up reserves after your opponents do, so they are worth more. Strategy should be structured around trying to eliminate opponents and take their cards. When eliminating opponents, especially in large singles games, it's best to aim for defeating opponents with enough Reserves to give you 5+ after eliminating them, thus allowing the player to call them up mid-turn and deploy more troops.

Escalite Reserves

Value: 4,5,6,7,8,...

Description: The first set of Reserves called up by any player is worth 4 extra troops, the second set is worth 5, and so on.

Strategy: Since Escalite Reserves grow at a much slower rate than Escalating, there will be less of an emphasis on eliminating opponents for cards, though that will still be a useful strategy as long as you don't weaken yourself so much in the attempt that you're easy picking for another opponent.

Flat Rate Reserves

Value: 6

Description: Every set of Reserves called up, regardless of how many have been called up already, is worth 6 troops.

Strategy: You'll want to focus more on taking and holding commands rather than eliminating opponents. Be sure to keep an eye on the Intel tab to make sure that no one opponent takes an insurmountable lead.

No Reserves

Description: No Reserves are awarded.

Strategy: