Wargame: Red Dragon- Beginner’s Guide (Tips, Tricks, & Strategies)

Easily identifiable as a war-based strategy game, Wargame: Red Dragon stands out due to its almost overbearing level of detail and numerous features. From supply logistics to unit advantages, the game requires a deep understanding of its various mechanics for any player to consider themselves an advanced player. Unfortunately, the game’s default tutorial leaves much to be desired, and it is not at all uncommon for beginner players to get frustrated with the game’s basic mechanics.

Thankfully the basic goal of any war is simple: destroy as many enemy units as possible while controlling as many zones as possible. Preferably while the player keeps their own losses at a minimum. But achieving that goal, especially against other players, is easier said than done. So here are some beginner tips, tricks, and strategies to keep in mind.

Preparedness and Tactics is the Key to Victory in Wargame: Red Dragon

While having powerful units is all well and good, the true key to victory lies in unit placement, maintaining supply lines, and tactical planning before the fight even starts. As Sun Tzu once said: “Every battle is won or lost before it is ever fought”. Terrain, unit strength, unit utility—all of these things contribute to whether the player will lose or win a battle.

Take this simplified hypothetical example. The enemy has a force that is heavily dominated by tanks and minimal support units while the player has a force that is primarily composed of infantry units and helicopters. Assuming both players have a similar number of units in total, this would mean that the tank player will absolutely dominate the war, right? Tanks can dominate any open battlefield and can easily take out several infantry units on their own. And with each tank having at least one support unit, it’s not likely the player will get lucky and find a vulnerable spot.

But it is possible for the player to win in this scenario. Infantry units may be relatively weak and have virtually no armor to speak of, but they have an edge when it comes to their mobility the ability to remain viable in almost any terrain. A good strategy in this instance is to set up several separate infantry units inside a city or a forested area. That way when a tank comes barreling through, the infantry units can flank the incoming enemy on several sides while getting rid of any support units. Once that support is eliminated, even comparatively units can take down a tank if they continue to flank it. Particularly if they are equipped with anti-tank rifles. Or the player can use the helicopters they have in their possession to take out the tank from the air. The tank itself will have a hard time assaulting the infantry since it’s in unfavorable terrain, which means that casualties on the player’s side will be fairly low.

At the end of the day, the greatest thing a new player can do is strategize and organize their units while in the deployment phase. Take stock of what units are where, where and when these units are at their most effective, and always ensure that supply lines are up and running. Even if the player has several tanks in their army, that tank will basically become useless when they run out of fuel. If the player is able to make a solid foundation based on strategy and tactics, the odds of winning go way up.

Visit the Armory and Understand Damage Types in Wargame: Red Dragon

This guide saying to prepare ahead of time is all well and good, but beginner players will not know the full scope of how to do that without some form of direction. Thus, it is highly recommended that beginner players spend some time in the armory. Allowing players to get a closer look at units within the game, the armory is beyond useful for anyone who wants to acquaint themselves with unit category types and their respective stats. The UI will display a lot of information, but new players should primarily focus their attention on the following:

• Strength: Consider this the unit’s health stat. When this stat reaches 0, the unit is destroyed.
• AP Power: Armor-piercing power. An armored unit can only stand a chance against another armored unit when it has an AP power equal to or greater than the opposing unit.
• HE Power: High-explosive power. Consider this the ‘base’ damage a unit can deal when attacking. It is most effective against unarmored units.

Keep in mind that the values of any of these numbers can change based on any number of circumstances such as morale or terrain. As such, it is recommended that players keep an eye on these stats even when outside of the armory.

Practice in Campaign and Skirmishes in Wargame: Red Dragon

The best way to learn is to just go out and play. A campaign will insert the player in a war with an AI, which makes it ideal for anyone who wants to test out all of what the game has to offer without going into a multiplayer mode. Skirmishes on the other hand are significantly shorter. It gives the player a set of customizable objectives, allowing players to gain a significant amount of experience in using their own customized decks and combat mechanics to a goal of their own choosing.

What’s a deck? It’s basically a way for players to customize their army. Every player is encouraged to have a healthy balance of unit types: naval, aerial, tank, support, etc. But that doesn’t mean the player can’t experiment with their army composition and develop preferences. Players should mess around with their deck to see what type of units they like and then test them out in a skirmish to see if they can be used effectively. If the deck composition is problematic, just head back to the drawing board and make some alterations. Alternatively, if the army composition is fine but the player is having trouble using them effectively, continue testing the units out in several scenarios by using campaign or skirmish mode. A good rule of thumb is to test units out in several terrain types and against both armored and unarmored enemy units.

Wargame: Red Dragon is available on PC

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