Artillery, who possess the ability to bring down tanks, are few in number, so are very precious.
"The less there are, the more they're worth" is a general rule in the field of economics, and it also applies in the game of Strat-X.
So that one of the basic strategies is for the infantry to take out the opponent’s artillery, to make way for a company of tanks to breach enemy lines.
1. Formation of the Front Lines
Advance with the green die, attack with the red, the maximum range of attack is 6 squares (see Rules).
The maximum value for each die is set at 3.
This doesn't mean of course that you will get 3 on green, 3 on red all of the time.
And whether you attack (with the green and red dice) or you advance (with the 2 white dice), the decision rests each round on the player.
So that even if a piece enters within firing range of an opponent, it may or may not be attacked. <see diagram 1 >
Though to enter within 4 spaces is dangerous. <see diagram 2 >
Under normal circumstances, if you enter within 4 spaces, you are generally attacked.
So moving your pieces to about 5 or 6 spaces of one another the front lines are made.
Coming within 4 squares will result in fighting.
2. One point penetration
Your advancing group of pieces must enter your opponent's enemy lines at one point.
This is so that, as mentioned earlier, at least two of your pieces can come within 3 spaces of your opponent's headquarters.
To do this, your opponent's forces must be weakened in a certain area and a hole made through which your forces can break through. <diagram 4 >
This is called the breakthrough point, and the pieces remaining can then move on to invade the headquarters.
However, to try to break through an area where your opponent's forces are many is next to impossible.
A mentioned earlier, the winner of a skirmish is nearly always the side with the greater number of pieces.
Therefore it is best to gather and move one's pieces toward the weakest point of the opponent's lines, and strike from there.
3. Striking the weakest point, the "kyo point"
Bringing your men to the enemy's weakest point and attacking with all your force is a basic strategy used in war, unchanged throughout history.
However, the place where your enemy's forces are thinnest, your enemy's "kyo point" is constantly changing.
This is because each side is trying to move their forces to the other's weakest point.
Sometimes it happens that with just one round of movement, the battle situation of the entire board changes completely.
In Strat-X, the board comes alive like a being of life, in the way that it changes.
4. Timing of breaching the enemy's lines
As each army advances, and the front lines start to take shape the first phase of the battle ends.
In the middle phase, strategy begins. Taking each other’s pieces to find a hole in the opponent's defense.
When the weak point is found, it is breached, and the company that breaks through rushes to take to headquarters.
In the end if 2 pieces reach within 3 squares of the headquarters, then the game is over, <see diagram 8 > as was mentioned previously.
Until this point is reached, in order to get 2 pieces close enough, at least 4 pieces must breach the opponent's centerlines. <see diagram 9 >
These 4 pieces need not be positioned together as a group.
Whether 4 or more pieces can make it across the centerlines is dependent on the timing of breaching the enemy's front lines.
5. Seeing the entire picture
The game of Strat-X is essentially the reading of one another's strategy.
The capture of the opponent's headquarters is the objective.
But at times, one gets caught up in the immediate battle too much; taking and losing pieces, maybe winning the local skirmish,
the opponent ends up taking your headquarters and the game is lost.
The means of capturing the enemy headquarters must be visualized at every round.
For example, say you want to take out the opponent's artillery hidden behind a lake with your infantry.
Then you maneuver your tank and advance into the headquarters. <see diagram>
However, it is not like the opponent's forces are not themselves moving.
They will also be trying to find your weak point and moving their pieces accordingly.
In this way the board is ever changing.
So the player must be constantly watching this changing board, and adjust one' strategy according to the conditions at that time.
To play the game one must be flexible.
Battle with the entire picture in mind, reading the changes with every movement.