Never leave your leader in the Throne City at the beginning of the game. We can spare them and preserve our units, or fight them anyway to gain some extra experience. Either choice has an alignment choice attached. You can choose to let them go to avoid losing hit points or fight them for XP. Some defenders might flee their position when confronted with an overwhelming force. This looks like a good army to start with. Plan a (semi-)circular route around your capital, so you are never too far away from your throne when a threat emerges.

Units get more powerful as they gain XP, so you should try and keep them alive as long as possible! It’s a good idea to not split this group up yet, so you can use overwhelming force to clear sites and nearby settlements with minimal losses. Your first moves in the game should be to send this army, led by your leader and hero, to clear nearby treasure sites and camps. Although they start off weak, Heroes will quickly develop into your most powerful units. A hero will also offer to join you, and unless you have a good reason not to, you should always accept this offer. In a typical randomly generated map (RMG) you start with your Leader and about 5 Tier I and II units.

Age of wonders 3 guide pdf