Editing Total War: Warhammer/Tactics (section)

==Battle Types==
Not all battles are fought under the same conditions. While most battles will be pitched encounters where you and your opponent are literally starting on an even field, some encounters will reflect overworld conditions.

===Land Battle===
Plain vanilla, what you'll most likely be fighting in campaign and multiplayer. You and your opponent will start on opposite sides of the battlefield, with someone being "defender" and "attacker." While most of these maps are generally even, sometimes the defender will start out in a favourable, elevated position. Other times, the defender will literally be in the bottom of a steep cliff, with beastmen hordes crashing down on them. The battlefield nominally reflects the type of terrain/environment your army was on the map.

When first encountered, the defending army will be given an option to stand and fight, or retreat, an option you only get once. If you fight and lose, you can still have your army survive if you have units mostly intact. If they choose to retreat, they can still be attacked if the opposing army chooses to chase them; losing this battle will cause you to lose your army entirely.

If another army is close enough in the overworld map, they will arrive as reinforcements; the direction they come into the battlefield from is affected by their position on the overworld map, so you can have reinforcements come in from the back of your opponent's deployment zone. With the required skill the attacker can also initiate a "lightning strike", which ensures no reinforcements on either side.

One change brought by TWWH3 is that is will take time for reinforcements to arrive, generally around 1-3 minutes depending on both lords' traits or ancillaries. Reinforcements still arrive from the direction of the reinforcing armies on the overworld map, but the direction can be changed during the deployment phase although this will increase the time until reinforcements arrive. The lightning strike skill now initially adds time to the reinforcements timer, with only the final level allowing battles without reinforcements. At the very least, lightning strike battles without reinforcements will leave the attacker WINDED or EXHAUSTED, which does even the battle in the defender's favor somewhat.

===Domination Battle===
A multiplayer-exclusive game mode introduced in TW:WIII, Domination battles are a different take on the standard Land Battle. Every Domination battle map will have three controllable points on the map that unlock roughly one minute after the match actually starts. This gives both teams time to position themselves accordingly or (in the case of armies like Nurgle and the Dwarfs), actually ''get'' to the victory points. Armies deploy with only roughly a third of their full roster, with the remaining 2/3rds acting as reinforcements each player can spend perpetually accruing supplies to bring onto the field. Unlike regular Land Battles, these reinforcements can retreat off the field to be re-recruited at a discounted price (after a period of time to recuperate/replenish ammo) or, after a longer period of time, wiped out units can be re-purchased at full price. This always ensures, bar a ''total'' steamrolling, each player will always have some presence on the board.

This brings us to the victory condition; the first player to reach the required victory point total wins. Each player gets 1 point per second per zone they control. Due to actually having to move about the map and having to take/maintain control of the various points sprinkled about the map, Domination Battles vary dramatically from classic Land Battles as far as what constitutes a viable army. Flying Units, even while landed, cannot claim control of a victory point. Expendable chaff infantry, Elite or Single Entity units tend to have a slower capture rate compared to more standard infantry, making them less ideal for the earlier stages of the game.

This mode is mainly to make competitive matches more fluid and dynamic beyond simply smooshing two armies together to see what's left.

===Chokepoint Battle===

A variation of the above, and pretty much everything is the same, except there is a natural chokepoint between the two armies. Chokepoint battles are initiated when the attacker needs to cross an overworld terrain feature like a bridge or river-crossing. Generally, the defender gets to deploy over a wider area on their half of the field while the attacker's forces have a more narrow deployment zone, but this depends on where the armies are in relation to the obstruction. 

While "chokepoint" would make you think a single narrow pass like Thermopylae, most of the maps have 2 or 3 "chokes", so putting all your units to defend a single pass is an easy way to get yourself encircled.

===Ambush===
All armies can take the AMBUSH stance, where they'll do their best to hide their forces and attack armies that cross their path. Ambush success rates can be influenced by a number of factors, including campaign skills, faction bonuses and even the area on the world map you're attempting to set an ambush up in. Some armies, like Skaven and Beastmen, have ambush as their default attack stance. When ambushing your opponent cannot benefit from reinforcements, but the ambushing army ''can''. An army in Ambush stance can be detected either by independent heroes coming across them or if the defending army has a high enough ambush defense chance, in which case the battle will proceed as a normal engagement.

Ambushing armies can position themselves anywhere on the map, while the defending army marches from one end of the field to the next. Ambushing armies are HIDDEN until someone attacks, or they are spotted by the General. 

Another addition in TWWH3 is an escape zone. Ambushed armies will attempt to flee the field, taking them out of play. If the Ambusher is victorious, the opposing army will be totally destroyed.

A fantastic strategy for dealing with AI is to set up an army in Ambush (preferably one with a high success rate) then have a second, weaker banner army hang out next to them in a regular stance. In many cases, the enemy AI will see the much weaker force and attempt to engage them in battle, only to stumble into your ambush. And of course, the weaker army can support the ambushing one to help ensure a victory. This is also a pretty good tactic to help level up your weaker/newer lords until they're ranked up enough to handle themselves.

===Subterranean Battles===
Various races (Skaven, Beastmen, Dwarfs and Wood Elves, for example) have alternate movement stances that allow them to ignore otherwise impassable terrain and slip past enemy armies that may be blocking your path forward. The Dwarves and Greenskins had the ability first, and they do it by traveling underground hence why even if Wood Elves and Beastmen don't dig, it's called 'subterranean'. However, enemy armies have a chance to intercept armies moving near/across them in that stance in a battle not terribly dissimilar from an Ambush battle. Like an Ambush battle, the tunneling army is at your mercy; they cannot retreat from an interception. Most tunneling armies will be totally wiped if they are intercepted and are defeated, but some, like the Beastmen and Wood Elves, can still regroup after being defeated. Unlike Ambush battles, armies will deploy normally and neither of them will have any notable tactical advantages in deployment options over the intercepted. You can decline an interception if it is your best interest (say, your army is too weakened to fight or you need to conserve your strength for a more opportune target... which is ''real'' unlikely all things considered) and allow them to go forth unmolested. But this section assumes you do the correct thing and intercept underway/worldroot traversing armies.

The battlefield itself is substantially more constrained over a regular field; a long narrow tunnel/path will typically make up the zone of combat, putting units that rely on maneuverability at a notable disadvantage. Terrain usually favors the defender, with dwarf and skaven maps having almost no cover at all, allowing their gunlines and artillery to fire with impunity and being very hard to flank. On the other hand beastman maps are entirely forested, making artillery useless and ranged attacks easily blocked.

===Siege Battles===
In the campaign modes for the first two games, this is going to be the second most common type of battle your armies engage in. Whenever an army assaults a major settlement, or a minor settlement with walls, they will encircle and besiege it. The city will have a few extra defenses in place that require potential preparation. If it's an army with no artillery, monsters or monstrous infantry with the Siege attacker perk, they will need to spend at least 1-3 turns constructing siege equipment in order to actually begin the assault. Armies that ''do'' have entities capable of breaking down the enemy gates can immediately assault walled settlements, though they may still elect to construct siege equipment if they so desire. Attackers are stationed outside the city walls (obviously), with any siege equipment they may have constructed. Most infantry can man such siege equipment in order to more efficiently breach the city, though if nothing else they can create ladders to scale walls and (eventually) beat their way through a gate. Doing so without siege equipment is dramatically more exhausting, however. Many artillery platforms can not only attack gates and towers, but they can also focus their firepower against the city walls themselves to full on crack open holes for your forces to enter through. Defenders can vanguard deploy some forces outside their walls if they so choose, but for the most part will be able to position their units on or behind their walls. Defenders will typically enjoy the use of (debatably useful) towers to help whittle down the attackers while they approach the walls, though they will need to have at least one unit stationed behind a tower for it to remain active. A random note on walls: flying units are really effective at assaulting walls, any model that gets thrown off the wall instantly dies, and it's a lot harder to tarpit a dragon when it's clogging up the wall.

The goal for the attackers is simple. Take the city. They can do this in one of two primary ways. The first, and most frequent way this occurs, is the elimination of the defending armies. The second way is the capture of the primary victory point within the city. By capturing and maintaining control of it for 200 seconds, the attacker can forcibly claim the city even if there are still defenders present. Conversely, the defender must prevent this from happening. Unfortunately for the defender, they either need to rout the attackers entirely or hold out for the entire hour of the battle while protecting the city's victory point.

Total War: Warhammer 3 introduced a rework of siege battles. They are now larger in scale, with more of the actual city being involved in the actual battle, and the city can be attacked from more sides. NoW settlements sometimes have bridges, walkways and elevated platforms overlooking or undercutting sections of the city, allowing for more diverse engagements and routes throughout the city. There are now a number of supply points spread throughout the city which provide the controller with a stream of...well, supplies. So long as defenders hold those locations, they will continue to receive resources of which they can construct additional defensive structures and towers throughout the city. Attackers can capture these points to cut off these supplies and destroy any fortifications constructed at that point. Fort battles (only available to Empire, High Elves and Cathay) can only be attacked frontally since their whole point is that they can't be surrounded.

===Minor Settlement Battles===
In the first two games unwalled settlement battles were regular land battles with the settlement shown somewhere in the background. Total War: Warhammer 3 finally added distinct maps for unwalled settlements that have defense buildings constructed. Aside from Wood Elf settlements they can be attacked from at least 3 sides, and many times the unwalled settlement takes up the entire center of the map, fully surrounded and with the aggressors having the entire perimeter of the settlement in which to deploy, granting them substantially more flexibility in picking their engagements. Defensive structures and towers are limited to those the defenders construct over the course of the battle.

Once the battle begins, it plays out very similarly to a standard Siege Battle; victory is obtained by either wiping out/routing the entire enemy army or by capturing and holding the main victory points. Just like TW:W III sieges, there are supply points sprinkled throughout the map that provide the defender with a constant source of supplies (shocker) that are used to purchase/upgrade barricades and towers at various points across the map. Each Tower or barricade position is directly tied to either a supply or victory point; if the defender loses control of a point that has towers or barricades, those defensive structures are destroyed. The defender can potentially recapture those points and re-construct those structures, though usually that tends to not happen for the following reason;

The attacker, just like in regular sieges, gains momentum for every point captured from the enemy. This provides a stacking, army-wide buff to vigour regeneration and melee attack per captured point. If they are able to get a couple footholds or even sneak in a unit or two with Stalk to capture points behind enemy lines, this can help tip the scales for the attackers to a point of no return for the defenders. This is often made easier still since, unlike full-blown siege battles, the attacker needs not wear themselves out breaking down or climbing over walls or funneling in through one or two narrow chokepoints.

===Endless Survival===
Only available for custom battle, including multiplayer co-op. The enemy starts with a small army but within minutes will have a full stack army and shortly afterwards lords will appear too. Each time an enemy unit retreats or is wiped out another one will take its place. Enemy units are random from all tiers although as time passes tier 1 and eventually tier 2 units will be removed. Killing them earns Supplies that can be used to bring reinforcements similar to Domination battles, upgrade them or give them various stat replenishments but you can't keep up with the enemy - sooner or later you will be wiped out. The more enemies you kill the higher your score.

===Free-For-All Battles===
Only for multiplayer, where 4 players will slug it out. The maps tend to be very symmetrical for competitive balance.