Advance Wars: Days of Ruin and all other Advance Wars games are Turn-based strategy (TBS) where players take it in turns to deploy, move and attack each other.
Normally there are two ways of winning:
- HQ Capture Victories - By capturing your enemy's HQ.
- Annihilation Victories - By destroying all units your enemy controls.
Exceptions to the above happen in story mode where the winning terms may differ depending on the mission you are completing. On this page, we cover most of the things you will need to know to play although there is an in-game tutorial.
Understanding Your Units
Your units, and how you use your units, will determine what your tactics are and how easily you can win. First, let’s go though a bit about your units so you’ll understand them a little better.
Just 10 HP?
All units have a max HP of 10. If a unit has 10HP, it has 100% of its normal strength. If a unit has 1HP left, it has just 10% of its normal strength. Units in Advance Wars all have a full health of 10HP. This means a tank still only has 10HP like an infantry – which may sound stupid at first.
The difference is that certain units are strong against others whist weak and open to other units. So, whist a tank has just 10 HP it is effective against infantry units so it's attack strength is about 120%. If the infantry attacked the tank, it will only have an attack strength of about 15% despite having 10HP. But say if the tank only had 1HP left, it only has 10% of the normal firepower. An infantry unit with 10HP (100% normal firepower) can destroy the tank even with the disadvantage it has.
Gas, Ammo & Materials
Gas, not surprisingly, is needed to move any unit on the battlefield. Ground units only burn gas when they are moved whist naval and air units will burn gas even if they do not make a move that turn. Submerged submarines burn the most gas then any other unit. If ground units run out of gas, they are unable to move till they are resupplied. If naval or air units run out of gas, they crash or sink so it’s important you keep an eye out.
Ammo is needed to use the primary weapon of a unit. Every time your unit fires its primary weapon (in an attack & counter attack), it uses 1 lot of ammo. If all the ammo is used up, then that unit will be forced to use its secondary weapon if it has one, otherwise it simply can not attack or counter-attack. It can’t use its primary weapon again until it has been resupplied. Secondary weapons do not need ammo.
Materials are needed to make temporary port / airports and ship planes. Unlike gas or ammo, materials used by mobile workshops and carriers can not be resupplied (expect by CO power of Greyfield / Sigismundo). It is wise to bear this in mind when building temporary port / airports and ship planes.
Moving Units & Loading
Each unit can move once per turn, unless it was produced that turn, is blocked by terrain or other units or has run out of fuel. Each unit has a certain movement type, which is how it travels. Certain terrain are impassable to others or are harder to cross.
To move a unit, select it and select any location within the green sqaure zone.
Tip: You can check the movement range of enemy units by hovering your cursor over them and holding 
.
To load units onto another, (e.g. infantry to transport helicopter), simply move the unit onto the transporter. If the transporter sinks though, the units onboard will also be destroyed. To unload, once the transporter has made a move (or simply moved to the same space so it never really moved) you have the choice of unloading if it is possible.
Attacking
In Advance Wars, there are two type of attack units; direct attacks and indirect attacks.
- Direct attacks
- Attacks from units (e.g. infantry, tanks) that must move next to the enemy unit to attack it. Unless you destroy that unit in that attack, it will counter-attack you in the same turn if they too are direct units.
- Indirect attacks
- Attacks from units (e.g. rockets, missiles) that are capable of launching missiles or firing long range cannons from a distance at a target. With the exception of anti-tank units, they are unable to counter-attack when attacked by either enemy direct or indirect attacks. They can not attack after moving (except Battleship).
To attack, simply select your unit and move your cursor over an enemy unit so that the cursor turns into a crosshead. Remember to keep an eye on ammo and that indirect units must not have moved that turn to attack.
Tip: You can check the attack range of units by hovering your cursor over them and holding 
.
Properties = Funds = Production
Properties are the most important type of terrain in Advance Wars. All properties serve a purpose. They can:
- Be the HQ of your entire army.
- Generate funds for production & repair.
- Deploy ground, sea or air units.
- They can repair and resupply certain units, making your army ship-shape and ready.
- Boost your army's attack power by better communication.
- Contain a one-use missile that will cause splat damage around a area.
- Boost your vision in fog or war battles.
As you can see, it is important to capture as many of the properties on the battlefield as possible.
Money Money Money! At the start of your turn, you earn funds depending on how many fund generating properties you have and what the current rule is on your map (always 1000 in story mode). Funds are used to repair units as well as create new ones. The more money you have, the more units you can deploy and the more likely you can keep them all in working order.
Production
Three of the most important properties are your factories, airports and ports. There places produce their relevant units as well as repair and refuel them if needs be. To see what units you can create, move your cursor over the place and click . This will open the production window for that place.
Any units that are faded can’t be bought as you don’t have enough money. If you do create a unit, it can not move till your next turn.
Repairing, Joining & Resupplying
Your units will get damaged as the fight enemy units. Often, it is better not to actually wait for it to be destroyed and buy a new one. Repairing units whenever possible is normally the best option. Any unit at their repairing bases at the start of their turn will get repaired by 2 HP as long as you have enough funds. The re repairing bases are: Ground Units
- HQ
- Factories
- Cities
Air Units
- Airport
Naval Units
- Port
Resupplying is important as already mentioned in the above section. The repair bases above can all resupply their relevant units too. More often though, people will use Mobile Workshops or Rigs to resupply their units. Workshops or Rigs can resupply the ammo and fuel of any unit, whether ground, sea or air so it’s always something to bring along in an attack.
Sometimes, you can’t repair your units because you don’t have the correct repair base, you don’t have the funds or your unit is too far away. Sometimes your supply chain fails and you have an air unit about to crash, burn and die. During times like these, it is useful to bear in mind something called ‘joining’.