How a turn of Paper Wars works, how to move and attack, and how to win. Everything you need for your first game.

The board

The game is drawn on graph paper. Each square is one tile. Terrain is written as a letter: M for mountains, W for water, F for forest, and a blank square for plains. See Terrain for what each one does.

Units are drawn in red or blue ink. Their shape tells you where they move:

Squares move on land.
Ovals sail on water.
Triangles fly.

The letters inside each shape say which unit it is, for example T for a tank. Units lists them all.

Taking a turn

Red always moves first. Then the players take turns until one army is gone.

On your turn, each of your units can:

Move once, as far as its movement points allow. Rough terrain costs more points.
Then act once: attack an enemy, or heal a friend if it's a medic.

You can act without moving first, but acting ends that unit's turn, so you can't move after attacking. You don't have to use every unit. Press End turn when you're done.

Units move up, down, left and right, never diagonally. They can pass through friendly units but can't stop on them, and enemy units block the way.

Controls

Click one of your units to select it. Its panel shows its hit points (HP) and stats.
Shaded tiles are where it can move. Click one to go there.
Enemies with a red ring can be attacked. Click one to attack it.
Friends with a green ring can be healed by a selected medic.
Press Esc or right-click to cancel a selection.

Winning

When a unit's HP drops to zero it is destroyed. A player with no units left is out, and the other player wins. In an online game you can also resign.

Ways to play

Same screen: two people take turns at one computer.
Against the computer: choose Computer: Easy or Computer: Normal as the opponent, and pick whether you play red or blue.
Online: create an account, confirm your email, then start a match in the game and send your friend the invite link. Invites that nobody accepts stop working after a week. You can get an email when it's your turn, which you can switch off on your account page.

You can also pick which map to play on before starting a new game.