Wait or Guard

New to Heroes III combat are the wait and guard function. These bump the simplified tactical combat of Heroes III up a few notches. Previously, you simply could attack, cast spells, or end your turn. Now, you don't have to just attack or hold still.

Wait
With the wait function, you can do just that. However, all creatures will go through their turns, from fastest to slowest, before you can go again. So, say you have an army of grand elves and battle dwarves attacking an army of skeleton warriors. Your grand elves would go first, but if you wanted to wait, you would command them to wait. Then the enemy would move his skeleton warriors and then you would move your battle dwarves. Then the grand elves would get their chance to move. You would then have to attack, move, or guard, since you cannot wait twice in one round. When multiple units decide to wait, they move in reverse order, so the last unit to wait (which is the slowest unit), has to move first. In that previous example, if all three stacks decided to wait, the battle dwarves would have to move immediately after they waited, since they were last to wait.

The wait function is very important for setting up attacks. Your ranged units can often wait for enemy units to get within closer range so they can fire without range penalties. If the grand elves had fired first, instead of waiting, they would only strike at half strength. However, if the grand elves wait for the skeleton warriors to move before they fired, they would be able to strike for full damage. You might also choose to wait if you wanted a slower unit to attack first. Let's replace the grand elves with centaurs. You could have the centaurs wait for the battle dwarves to attack the skeletons first. Why? That way, the skeleton warriors' retaliation is wasted on the more durable dwarves. Then, when the centaurs attack, they won't suffer a counterattack.

You should always have your ranged units and weaker attackers wait to strike melee units, unless you suspect you have to attack before the enemy can unleash a spell like blind or berserk. You also don't want to wait during sieges when the enemy isn't going to move anyway. But in open battle, where enemy melee troops have no choice but to rush your ranged units, you are better off waiting for the units to come to within range before firing. Of course, when engaged against other ranged units, you still want to attack first. But against melee units, waiting could make the difference between a half damage sortie and a full assault.

As for your weaker troops, such as serpent flies or pegasi, it's a good idea to wait for your more durable attackers to suffer an enemy counter attack and then strike after the enemy stack has expended its one retaliation.

Guard
The guard function has replaced the end turn button for Heroes III. Now, instead of ending your turn, you put the creature on guard. What this does is end the stack's turn but increases its defense rating by 20 percent until its next opportunity to act. Your hero's defensive bonus factors into this, so a hero with a high defense rating will yield greater benefits to defending creature stacks.

Next, terrain considerations