Advanced Tactics - Air Maneuvers

Air Maneuvers

• Any air unit can transport a hero through the air too (even bats!)
• Air units in mountains or over water cannot be attacked by ground units - this can help make it easy to send a flying squadron deep into enemy territory.
  • This also applies to armies on coastlines. EXCEPTION: Air units on port squares or adjacent to city squares may be attacked by ground units (who turn into naval units) attacking into the port or out from the city.
• Corollary: The best (and often the only) defense against enemy air units is other air units.
• If your hero has a flight item (Wings of Flying, Magic Carpet, etc.), *any* units grouped with the hero will be able to fly, at *any* time.
  • Note: In the mac versions, a hero with a flight item can often drop non-flying units anywhere, even over water, then go off and do other things. The units remaining will be okay until they move again. But in some versions, units left behind over water will drown.
• Corollary: Flying elephants are *very* impressive!
• Naval/air trick: a unit moving into water/shore away from a flying hero turns into a navy as if it was leaving a port. If your flying hero stack is too far from friendly boats, this can be a trick to use at the end of the move that will let your hero move much faster on the next turn. You may want to bring along a trid unit for just this purpose. (Dirk Pellett)
• As indicated above in the naval section: flying units will move like naval units when grouped with navies. Heroes made into navies cannot be picked up by air units, but must find a port to return to land.
• Amphibious Invasions: Normally a naval stack can only go ashore at a port anchor, bridge, city, etc. HOWEVER -- and this has surprised a large number of expert players! -- a hero grouped with a flying unit and a stack of naval units can lead the ENTIRE STACK into battle ON LAND, as long as there are enemy units adjacent to the shore square where the hero is!