'If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles'
- If you are out-teched, know that you are out-teched. If you have a tech advantage, know what that means. Act accordingly.
- Know your opponent's diplomatic status; who will defend them and assist them when fighting you, and who might join you in vanquishing them.
- Look up your opponent's manpower reserves and standing army on the ledger. Do not look upon a doomstack in surprise, because it came from beyond the Fog of War boundary.
- If the enemy army has a general, let your army also have a general.
- If you are about to attack an army entrenched in the mountains, grit your teeth. If those mountains are prefaced by a river, grimace.
'Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, defeated warriors go to war and then seek to win'
'He who knows when he can fight, and when he cannot, will be victorious'
- Make sure your armies are fully maintained; it does not do to go to war with the maintenance slider set to zero.
- Position your armies carefully. Do not declare war and then scramble to position your armies in advantageous terrain.
- Have ample reserves. Do not fight when your manpower is low.
- Be poised; a stability of -2 is no time to start a fight.
- Build a war chest, for money is the sinew of war.
- Keep a pool of diplomatic points handy, as war exhaustion does not bear allowing to fester.
'There are five possible operations for any army. If you can fight, fight; if you cannot fight, defend; if you cannot defend, flee; if you cannot flee, surrender; if you cannot surrender, die.'
- Always outnumber your enemy. Mass your armies. A little attrition is better than ten thousand carcasses from a single battle of equals.
- If outnumbered, evade your foe. Make them chase you. Preserve your forces. Your doom will come only if you allow your armies to be utterly destroyed.
- For any battle of equals, terrain and generalship must be in your favour.
- Always chase down retreating enemy armies; do not allow the dice to favour them in a battle rejoined. Crush them completely.
- Do not assault enemy fortresses. The blood price is too high, and paying for it in coin will gut you.