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Infantry are the backbone of any battling army. You need them to capture cities, factories, airports, ports, and most importantly, the enemy HQ. From a battle perspective, their main purpose is to overwhelm the enemy with a lot of units. They're excellent cannon fodder, so if you're not building anything else because of low funds, build infantry. Infantry units have the lowest deployment cost. They have low firepower, but can capture cities, bases, airports, ports, and HQs, so they are critical to victory in numbers.

Infantry should be used to attack other infantry, mechs, transport units, and indirect units like artillery and rockets. Infantry will fight poorly against all other units. Infantry can also defeat low-HP vehicles and copters. In Fog of War situations, put infantry on a mountain and they will be as effective as a recon.

Mechs are slower, more expensive infantry that can hold its own against most direct units like recons, tanks, and anti-air, while doing significant damage to indirect units like artillery and rockets. Mech units can capture cities, bases, airports, seaports, and HQs, traverse most terrain types, and have superior firepower compared to infantry.

Mechs should be used to attack mechs, recons, tanks, anti-air, artillery, and rockets. The bazooka can be used three times against those units and then you'll need to bring an APC to reload the bazooka, or have the mech reload at a city. Mechs can also attack infantry, but it's better to use infantry against other infantry due to the lower deployment cost of infantry. Mechs can run into trouble trying to get into range of an artillery or a rocket to attack it, but other units can be cannon fodder as your mech makes it over, or you can make use of a transport like an APC or transport copter.

In Fog of War situations, put a mech on a mountain and they will be as effective as a recon. Sami's mechs in particular are lethal, particularly when Sami has a CO power going, because of Sami's +1 movement on a CO power.

APCs can't attack, but don't discount their importance. First, APCs can transport infantry and mechs on land, which enhances the movement of both units in getting to a city, base, airport, seaport, or HQ to capture it at a much faster pace. And even if you don't use it for that purpose, APCs will refuel other units, particularly submarines, mechs, and indirect units that have a limited number of shots before they need to refuel. And if you're playing against the AI, the AI loves to target APCs, which can allow you to save more expensive units like medium tanks, rockets, air units, and sea units from being in the line of fire.

Recons have a high movement range of 8 and vision of 5, which makes having a recon or two indispensable on Fog of War maps. Recons can do decent damage against infantry and mechs if they attack first, but its primary asset across all maps is their speed. Recons can slip past artillery and rocket ranges and attack them head on and do some damage. Avoid using them against tanks, medium tanks, anti-aircraft, or aircraft, because they won't stand much of a chance.

Tanks are the bread and butter of a mechanized army. Tanks have good movement at a decent deployment cost of 7000G, and will smash infantry, mechs, recons, and indirect units like artillery and rockets. Most importantly, they do a bit more damage and win the head-to-head against the slightly more expensive anti-aircraft. Do not use them against battle copters or medium tanks, and watch out for mechs that may be within range, because a mech that strikes a tank first is going to be a problem for a tank.

Medium tanks are the best tank in Advance Wars 1, and the second best tank in Advance Wars 2. They have a high deployment cost of 16,000, making them a more ideal choice on larger maps with many properties than on smaller maps. Medium tanks will kill any direct land unit (to include tanks and anti-aircraft) and hold its own against battle copters. When using medium tanks, be careful about the range of indirect units like artillery and rockets, or about being in range of a bomber or battleship. Medium tanks are powerful, but they could get caught in the web of an indirect unit and be rendered ineffective.

Neotanks are only available in Advance Wars 2, and are the best and most expensive tanks in Advance Wars 2. They have a high deployment cost of 22,000, and sport only slightly more Firepower than medium tanks, but have one extra square of movement. They are ideal on larger maps where you have the money and are on the offensive; otherwise, just build a medium tank.

Artillery units are the backbone of any indirect army, and unless you're using Max, you'll want to build a few. Indirect units like the artillery need a setup turn, so put your artillery at chokepoints or behind your infantry or other direct units to protect them. The artillery has a range of 2-3 and will hit both land and sea units. Artillery are an effective way to damage mechs, recons, tanks, medium tanks, and other artillery and rockets before you move your direct units in for the KO. Be aware of recons that can use its massive movement range to damage the artillery first.

Rockets are the medium tank equivalent of indirect units. Rockets are very useful in chokepoint situations where both sides have a lot of units, and you need that extra range to damage the enemy lines. Like with artillery, rockets need a setup turn, so put your rockets at chokepoints and behind other units to protect them. Rockets have a nice range of 3-5 and will hit both land and sea units. Rockets are an effective way to damage the same units as artillery, but have a wider range to fire from. Rockets have less defense than artillery, so be aware of any direct attacks on them, and use your rockets to attack first and then send in the direct units for the KO.

The versatility of anti-aircraft as a direct unit is unmatched. Anti-airs can take out recons, artillery, rockets, battle copters, and bombers with relative ease. And to top that off, anti-airs are the most cost-efficient way to mop up enemy infantry and mechs. Even on maps without aircraft, anti-aircraft will assist you in taking down enemy infantry swarms. The one drawback of the anti-aircraft is that it will lose head-to-head battles with any type of tank. And bombers will still destroy anti-aircraft if the bomber hits first. Watch out for bomber ranges so that your anti-aircraft goes first.

The missile is a defensive indirect unit with recon-like vision capabilities. Although anti-airs are generally more effective against aircraft, the missile will force aircraft to stay away when there is a lot of fighting on the front lines at chokepoints. The missile has improved capabilities in Fog of War because it will be able to see and fire at anything within its vision range of 5, because aircraft can't hide in forest or reefs. Any direct unit will take it out, so protect it as you would any artillery or rocket by surrounding it with other units.

Transport copters are APCs that can fly over all types of terrain, but without its fueling abilities. Use them to transport infantry and mechs across sea and mountains so that they get to their destinations. Transport copters are the fastest way to move an infantry or mech to a neutral property or a HQ, but keep in mind that like APCs, the AI knows this and will try to target your transport copters to remove them from the map. Alternatively, because of this, you can also use transport copters to lure enemy units so that they don't attack another target or expensive unit that you have.

Battle copters are the tanks of the sky. They can be used to attack the same direct units that a tank can, other than anti-aircraft, but have more movement versatility over all types of terrain than the tank. They can be used to escort early transport copters and because of its movement range, battle copters are more effective at hitting indirects as long as there isn't an anti-air in range ready to take the copter down. In a battlefield with lots of air and sea, battle copters should be a useful early-to-mid game unit. But watch out for fighters, which have a longer movement range, as well as anti-aircraft and missiles.

Fighters are the medium tanks of the sky. They have a high deployment cost, but if you want control of the air to keep your battle copters and bombers in the area, that's going to do the job. Fighters will destroy all other aircraft, but as with any other air unit, fighters should be careful about other fighters, anti-aircraft, and the range of missiles. And don't build a fighter unless you know that your opponent will build planes, because fighters can only attack other air units.

Bombers are the all-powerful air unit of the sky. Bombers can take out any land or sea unit except for dived subs if it attacks first, and have a nice 7 movement to boot to fly through enemy lines. But bombers are expensive to build, so you want to protect it from fighters, anti-air, and missiles. Generally you'll want to keep it out of the massive range of other fighters or weaken enemy fighters before moving in with the bombers. Bombers can still damage anti-air and destroy missiles on a first strike, so just make sure the bomber hits first rather than the other way around.

Landers are the sea transport unit, and much more expensive than the APCs and transport copters. Like transport copters, landers cannot refuel other units. However, landers can transport two units at a time, not just one. And furthermore, landers can transport ANY two land units, not just infantry and mechs. This means that landers have the versatility to move tanks, medium tanks, artillery, and rockets all the way across a sea-driven map and do damage. Landers aren't particularly vulnerable to direct land units. But landers can still be taken down easily by indirect units such as artillery, rockets, and battleships, as well as the most expensive direct units in the game: submarines and bombers.

The cruiser is the more expensive, seafaring version of the anti-air. On land, build anti-airs instead of cruisers. But at sea, there's nothing better to take out air units and submarines. Cruisers are highly effective against fighters and battle copters, assuming it can get into range of both. Cruisers are also super effective against submarines, if it can locate where the diving submarine is. Watch out for battleships, which can take out cruisers with its enormous 2-6 firing range.

Submarines are the medium tanks of the sea. They are expensive, but they can dive. That diving ability is essential for submarines to get to battleships covertly and then destroy them. The same ability can be used to sneak up on other submarines and landers filled with units as well and eliminate them quickly. Diving submarines use up a lot of fuel quickly, so be sure to refuel every several turns with an APC or with the submarine sitting in a port.

Submerged submarines don't use as much fuel, but are vulnerable to battleship, bomber, and other indirect attacks from artillery and rockets. And of course, be aware of cruisers, the sea units custom built to sink submarines.

The battleship is the most expensive unit in the game, and rightfully so. With its 2-6 firing range and few counters, it can destroy most sea units and land units without it being targeted at all. The battleship outranges even the rocket and missile, and no direct land unit, even the medium tank, can do much damage to it.

It doesn't mean that battleships are invincible, because they are still vulnerable to attacks from bombers and submarines. A cruiser will typically be helpful in defending these bombers. And while the battleship has incredible firing range, be aware of artillery and rockets that may get in range to hit it first, or else you'll be yelling, "You sunk my battleship!"