Some images will be coming soon.. I hope. :P

Welcome to Strategy Corner.  For the QR and the first 2 rounds of DE, I'll be posting an article here to help the weaker/less creative teams analyze the maps and formulate a strategy that can work.  

I'm not the greatest player in the world, so I don't expect there'll be anything of interest here for the experts, but hopefully a few teams will be able to play a more enjoyable game with the advice.

Flag Rally on Stalk on the Borderlands

This is a map that's going to confuse a lot of teams.  The obstructions in the middle of the map make it very difficult to maneuver, and in fact obstructions all over the map make coordination difficult.  Even with a friendly group nearby, you can be isolated and destroyed while they try to get around a body of water, line of fences, or chunk of wall.

Stronger teams will be able to overcome this, and should probably have a lot of independent groups tagging flags, surrounding enemies, and adapting to the opponent's strategy.  Weaker teams will want to stick closer together to have a chance.  Rushes may work well, the enemy will be left scrambling to organize themselves.

Remember that the South start has a shorter trip to the circular area in the middle, and the North start has a lot of fences limiting their movement.  If you get the north start, a large middle force will be a liability.  If you want to control the middle, you'll either want to send in an early ghol pack, or send a lot of pus around so that you can push inside.  You can also send a small defense force and be sure to blow up the fences.  They'll have a tough time defending for long, so your other flanks will need to push through quickly and take flags.

Assassin on If I Had a Trow...

There's really not a lot of strategy to this map.  Unless you are pulling a full-on rush, you'll want to try and defend all three river crossings.  If you let a whole flank into your backfield, it will be very difficult to defend your peasants, no matter where you have them holed up.  A big defense force is probably a waste, too - if you need them, you're already dead.  One mortar gets close enough, and all your peasants go *poof*.

So you really just have to get in some practice with the artillery battles.  The key is to keep pressure on with multiple units.  If you focus on using one lock or mortar, you'll not be able to get anything done, but if you can attack from multiple angles, your opponent may make a mistake. If you have trouble multi-tasking like that, you should probably have your captain assign you to a defensive force.

The wights can occasionally be devastating too, be sure to keep track of how many you've killed, and regularly blast the water until you get them all.

Territories on Calm Before the Storm

Like Stalk, this is a map with terrain that can be confusing for many players.  As it is so wide open, you'll have a difficult time controlling where battles will occur and how they play out.  Try to make your strategy as adaptable as possible.  Do this by giving your players groups that can act independently, either balanced arty/melee groups, or fast melee/pus groups that can retreat easily.

Herons and pus will largely determine the outcome of this game, so you'll probably want a few players focusing on them.  A few teams will decide to split up the herons and send them to different places on the map, but I'd advise against that.  They're too useful to be part of a bigger group, standing around in reserve while the arty battle it out.  At least two of your herons should be roaming around looking for targets of opportunity, with one of your players' full attention (maybe with a couple pus ghols to help create opportunities).  

Knowing how to use your herons is key.  With a well placed pus, 2 heron can easily tear through half a dozen or more warriors, and get vet points at the same time.  Also, one heron can draw attacks during a melee battle, set off a heal, and stand there invulnerable while the rest of your melee clean up.  The opponent will also try to use this technique on you, so you want to avoid shift-clicking herons.  You generally don't want to shift-click warriors either, since they can bait you while the herons attack. Your best bet against a wary opponent is to attack both herons and warriors at once.

A rush can definitely work here, but be careful to watch a flag.  If you didn't get any thrall, and no one is responsible for holding a flag, you can easily end up with a maximum loss on a game you were winning.  And of course I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that you can try to throw a molotov dud or two for your ghols to use in a pus-bomb.  The snow makes it easier to do, and makes it harder for enemy dwarves to effectively stop you.  This will give you a nice melee advantage for your rush, especially if you can manage to bomb their herons.