Paw & Claw follows the rules of Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising and Advance Wars: Dual Strike. If a rule isn’t covered here, it works the way it does there. The numbers below come straight from the game’s data files and code.
Winning
A battle ends when one army is left. You beat an enemy army by capturing its headquarters (the Base) or by destroying every one of its units.
A day of battle
Armies take turns, and a full round of turns is a day. Each turn opens with a banner showing the day and the commander, and then, in this order:
- Income. You get the funds of every property you own.
- Repair and resupply. Units on your own properties heal and refill (see supply).
- Upkeep. Fliers and boats burn their daily stamina and are lost at zero.
- Weather may change (see weather).
Then you give orders: every unit can act once. Turns end only when you choose End turn in the map menu.
Funds and building
Every property pays 1,000 funds a day to its owner; some commanders change that. Spend funds at the properties that build:
| Property | Builds |
|---|---|
| Workshop | Ground units: foot soldiers, vehicles and caravans |
| Dock | Boats |
| Roost | Fliers |
As in Advance Wars, the HQ doesn’t build anything. A unit built this turn can’t move until your next turn, and a building can’t produce while a unit stands on it. Prices are on each unit’s page.
Movement
Each unit has movement points and each tile costs some of them to enter, depending on the unit’s movement class (the full table is on the terrain page). Trails cost 1 for everything that walks or rolls; thickets slow vehicles; brambles and boulders let only foot soldiers through; water is for boats.
- Units can pass through friendly units but not stop on them, with two exceptions:
- Joining. Move onto a unit of the same type when at least one of the two is wounded, and they merge into one. Health over 10 is refunded as funds.
- Boarding. Move a unit onto a friendly transport that can carry it.
- Units can’t pass through enemies.
- Moving uses stamina, one point per movement point spent.
Combat
A unit can attack after moving if it’s a direct unit (range 1, it hits neighbours), or instead of moving if it’s an indirect unit (range 2 or more, like the Catapult or Trebuchet). Indirect units can never move and fire in the same turn.
Damage
Damage follows the Advance Wars 2 formula, in percent of the target’s health, rounded down:
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| B | Base damage of the attacker’s weapon against that target (see the damage chart) |
| ACO | Attacker’s firepower: 100, plus commander and power bonuses |
| L | Luck: a random 0 to 9 by default; some commanders roll more, or roll bad luck too |
| AHP | Attacker’s displayed health, 1 to 10 |
| DCO | Defender’s defense: 100, plus commander and power bonuses |
| DTR | Defense stars of the defender’s tile (0 for fliers) |
| DHP | Defender’s displayed health, 1 to 10 |
Example. A full-health Militia attacks a full-health Militia on grass (1 star): B = 55, so (55 + L) × 10/10 × (200 − (100 + 1 × 10)) / 100 = (55 + L) × 0.9. That is 49% to 57% depending on luck: the target drops to 5 or 6 health. Hurt attackers hit softer, and cover protects a healthy defender more than a wounded one.
Weather never changes damage.
Counterattacks
If the defender survives and the attacker is within its range, it strikes back at once, with its reduced health. Indirect units can’t fire at neighbours, so they never answer a direct attack, and an indirect attacker is usually out of reach of what it hits: that’s what makes catapults and trebuchets so strong.
Weapons and ammo
Many units carry two weapons. The primary weapon (bows, lances, catapult stones) uses ammo; the secondary (blades and the like) never runs out. A unit out of ammo falls back on its secondary weapon, or can’t attack at all if it has none. Each unit’s page lists both.
Terrain cover
Every tile has defense stars, from 0 (trails, water, shores) to 4 (brambles, boulders and the HQ). In the formula each star takes off 1% per point of the defender’s health, so a full-health unit on four stars takes 40% less damage. Fliers never get cover. See terrain for every tile.
Capturing
Only foot soldiers (Militia and Halberdiers) can capture. Every property has 20 capture points; each turn a capturing unit removes as many as its displayed health (a full-health unit takes two turns). If it leaves the tile or is destroyed, the capture resets. Capturing the enemy HQ wins the battle.
Repair and resupply
At the start of your turn, after income, each unit on one of your properties that serves its kind (workshops, outposts, storehouses and the HQ serve ground units; docks serve boats; roosts serve fliers):
- heals 2 health, paying 10% of the unit’s price per health point, as far as your funds go, and
- refills its ammo and stamina for free.
A Supply Cart refills the ammo and stamina of the units next to it at the start of your turn.
Stamina
Stamina is Advance Wars’ fuel. Moving spends it, and a unit can never move further than its stamina allows. Fliers and boats also burn some every day, even standing still; when it reaches zero they crash or sink. Daily burn is on each unit’s page.
Transports
Caravans, Skyferries and Rafts carry other units. Move a unit onto a friendly transport to board it, move the transport, then unload onto a neighbouring tile. A transport that is destroyed takes its passengers with it.
Fog of war
With fog of war on, you only see the tiles your units can see (each unit’s vision is on its page). Thickets and lily pads hide the units in them from everything but their direct neighbours. If you move into a hidden enemy, your unit stops short in front of it: a trap, and its turn is over.
Weather
Weather can change at the start of a turn (a 20% chance each day). Its effects:
| Weather | How often | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Clear | 50% | None |
| Rain | 15% | −1 vision |
| Snow | 10% | −1 movement |
| Sandstorm | 10% | −2 vision |
| Dense fog | 15% | Vision at most 1 |
Some commanders ignore weather, and some powers call it in. Weather never changes damage.
Commanders and powers
Each army is led by one of 28 commanders. A commander’s always-on abilities apply all battle. Two powers wait in the power meter:
- The meter fills when units lose health: the army that took the hit gets the full funds value of the health lost, the army that dealt it half.
- A star of the meter costs 9,000 funds of damage. Each time a commander uses a power, their stars cost 20% more, up to three times the price.
- A CO Power needs its stars (usually 3 or 4); the Super CO Power needs more (usually 6 to 9) and is stronger. The meter holds up to the Super CO Power, and stops filling while a power runs.
- A power lasts until your next turn. On top of its own effect, either power gives every unit +10% attack and +10% defense.