How to Play — STRIKE NATIONS 2026

⊕ Registration & Login

Enter your Commander Callsign (your in-game name) and a valid email address on the home page.
Click ⚡ SEND MAGIC LINK — a secure one-time login link is emailed to you. No password is created or stored.
Open the email and click the link within 1 hour. The link is single-use — after clicking it is void.
Returning commanders just enter their email again — your callsign and win stats are preserved across sessions.

⊕ Open Join: New commanders can join a session at any time — even mid-war. They receive 6 draft picks to claim territories and jump straight into the fight.

◆ Draft Phase — Claim Your Territories

Once 2 or more commanders have joined, the game starts automatically and enters the Draft Phase.
Each commander receives 6 draft picks. All players draft simultaneously — no waiting, no turns.
Hover over any territory to see its allied nations (green highlight) and conflict zones (red highlight).
Click any glowing unclaimed territory on the map to claim it as your starting nation. Each claimed territory starts with 3 armies.
Conflict rule: You cannot claim a territory that geopolitically conflicts with one you already own (e.g. holding Iran locks out Israel and vice versa).
When all commanders have used all 6 picks, the draft ends and the War Phase begins immediately.

Strategy tip: Draft territories that form a geographic cluster — controlling every nation in a continent grants a substantial bonus army income every round.

⚡ Parallel War — How Turns Work

Unlike classic board games, all commanders act simultaneously. There is no queue, no waiting for your opponent to move.
Each player independently manages their own cycle: Reinforce → Strike → Airlift → End Turn, and then immediately starts the next round.
The map updates in real time as other players place armies or strike territories — you will see army counts change live without refreshing.
Your own territories glow gold when it is time to place armies. Enemy territories glow red when you are in strike mode.
The Operations panel on the right shows your armies left to place, current phase, and active war doctrine.

Important: Because turns are parallel, two commanders can strike the same territory at the same time. Army counts update as saves arrive — the map is always live.

① Reinforce — Deploy Armies

Each round starts in Reinforce phase. The Operations panel shows how many armies you must place.
Army income formula: (your territory count ÷ 3), minimum 3 armies, plus continent bonuses for any continent you fully control.
Your territories glow gold. Click any of them to place one army at a time. Each click places one army on that territory.
You must place all armies before you can strike. The counter in the Operations panel counts down to zero.
Continent bonuses: Americas +5, W.Europe +7, E.Europe +8, Mid East +7, Africa +6, S.Asia +4, E.Asia +6, Oceania +2.

Strategy tip: Stack armies on a border territory you plan to attack from. A concentrated strike is far more effective than spreading thin across all your nations.

② Strike — Attack Enemy Nations

Click ⚔ STRIKE in the action panel once all armies are placed.
Step 1: Click one of your territories with 2 or more armies — this is your attack origin.
Step 2: Click any enemy territory on the map to launch your strike. A modal appears asking you to choose your strike type:

✈️

AIR STRIKE

Precision bombardment.
Attacker loses 0 armies.
Defender loses 2–4 armies.
A cinematic plays on launch.

⚔️

GROUND TROOPS

Full ground assault.
Attacker loses 1–3 armies.
Defender loses 4–8 armies.
Higher damage, higher risk.

War doctrines (Casus Belli) can multiply damage — see Step 8.
You can attack as many times as you like in one round. Each strike consumes armies on both sides.
You can abort a pending attack selection at any time with ✕ Abort Strike.

☢️ Nuclear States: The USA, Russia, UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel each hold a Nuclear Deterrence Card. Any attack on a nuclear state has a 12% chance of being deflected — your attacking territory loses 2 armies and the strike fails. Each state can only use this card once per game.

③ Airlift — Move Armies

Click ✈ AIRLIFT at any point during your round to enter airlift mode.
Step 1: Click one of your territories with 2 or more armies — this is the source.
Step 2: Click any other territory you own as the destination. Each click transfers 1 army — click multiple times to move more.
The source territory always keeps at least 1 army. When all movable armies are transferred, the selection resets automatically.
You can airlift as many times as you want during your round. Click ► END TURN when done, or select a new source.

Strategy tip: Use airlift to rapidly reinforce a front under attack, or to mass armies on a border before a multi-strike offensive.

► End Turn & New Round

When you are done reinforcing, striking, and airlifting — click ► END TURN.
Your armies are immediately recalculated for the next round. You do not wait for other players — your new round begins at once.
Other commanders continue their own rounds in parallel. The map updates live as their actions arrive.
The round counter in the top bar increments with each End Turn you perform — not a global counter shared with opponents.

Reminder: You cannot end your turn if you still have armies to place. Place all armies first, then click End Turn.

🎯 Casus Belli — War Doctrine

At the start of your round during Reinforce phase, a 🎯 PICK WAR DOCTRINE button appears in the sidebar.
A War Doctrine (Casus Belli) is optional — but it provides a powerful bonus applied to every attack you make that round.
Once you pick a doctrine it is locked for the entire round. You can only pick one per round.

🗽 EXPORT DEMOCRACY

+40% attack damage this round

⛽ SECURING OIL

+4 bonus armies if you own oil territories, +2 otherwise

✝️ HOLY WAR

No geopolitical rebellion this round — claim any territory freely

💸 ECONOMIC WAR

Target loses 1 extra army before engagement (+20% damage)

🛡 SELF-DEFENSE

+4 bonus armies + 30% attack damage

☣️ WMD INTEL

Blitz: attack same territory twice. +80% damage. One time only.

🏥 HUMANITARIAN

Captured territory gains +2 armies immediately

🤝 TREATY OBLIGATION

+40% attack damage. Article 5 — allied forces mobilise.

☢️ Nuclear Deterrence

Nine territories are designated nuclear states: USA, Russia, UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel. They are marked with a ☢️ icon on the map.
Each nuclear state holds a Deterrence Card — one per game session, controlled by the commander who owns that territory.
When a nuclear state is attacked, there is a 12% chance of automatic deflection — the attack fails, the attacker loses 2 armies, and a red alert is shown to all players.
The deflect only works if the defending player still has their card — it is consumed on use.
To bypass nuclear deterrence: use the ☣️ WMD INTEL war doctrine — it neutralises the nuclear card and hits at +80% damage.

Commander's note: The 12% deflect applies to any attack on that territory, not just the first. Every strike roll is independent — be cautious stacking many attacks into a single nuclear state in one round.

⚡ Infinite War — The War Never Ends

Strike Nations uses an Infinite War doctrine — there are no eliminations and no final victory screen. The conflict runs forever.
When a territory's army count is reduced to zero or below, it does not change owner — instead the count goes negative (shown as a red circle on the map). The owner must reinforce it back on their next round.
Territories never change hands from combat damage alone — you hold what you claimed in the draft unless someone uses a doctrine that triggers rebellion.
Geopolitical Rebellion: Capturing a territory that geopolitically conflicts with one you already hold causes the conflicting territory to revert to neutral. Use the Holy War doctrine to bypass this rule.
New commanders can join at any time during an active session — they receive 6 draft picks and jump into the war.
The global War Crimes counter tracks total strikes fired across the session — a measure of the conflict's intensity.

Goal: Dominate the map by maintaining the highest territory count and keeping your armies from going deep into the red. Coordinate alliance selections during the draft to avoid attacking your allies.