I am stuck on the level "Live by the sword...". I've lost/surrendered at least 50 times and the skip option won't show up. Could somebody either tell me how to beat the level or tell me how to get the skip option to work?

Nevermind. After a hell of a lot of trying I finally beat the level.

How?

Hi,

1. round: move all units to blade 2
2. round: move all units to blade 3
3. round: move all units to blade 4
4. round: move all units to hilt 8
Wait 1-2 rounds until AI from the hilt goes to blade part and let them fight.
Then move and take over lower and upper hilt
AIs have the same situation as you at the beginning now, so you should easily win

Hope this helps

This specific method posted by Strostrofor did not work, but I made a slight tweak and that ended up working:
on 2nd round, move to blade 7 instead of blade 3. This prevents the AI from being able to overrun the Stump Blade bonus for one additional turn, which is crucial.

This map was one of the more problematic for me and I eventually gave up. After coming back to it and failing many times again I searched for help and found this post. Unfortunately it did not equate to a different outcome. What it did do is help me see my failure a bit differently and I adapted. My winning method was to stay on the side you start with and leave each territory with 2 units in it until you get to blade 8 and gain the extra 8 units per turn.

Turn 1. Deploy 4 units to blade five. Attack blade one with 1 unit and blade six with all remaining units. In that order.
Turn 2. Deploy 4 units so that blade five has 2 units total and blade six the remaining, probably a total of 5. From blade six attack blade seven with 3 units.
Turn 3. Deploy 4 units so that blades five and six have 2 units and blade seven has the rest, probably a total of 5 again. From blade seven attack blade eight with 3 units.

When turn three is finished you should have the 8 unit bonus. If not start over.

Turn 4. Deploy your units so that blade five has 3 units and all the others have 4 units. My attack order is as follows. From blade six attack blade one with 1 unit, from blade seven attack blade two with 1 unit, from blade five attack blade one with 2 units, from blade six attack blade two with 2 units, from blade seven attack blade three with 2 units and from blade eight attack blade four with 3 units.

With turn four finished you should have the entire blade and be earning twelve units per turn and probably be down to just one opponent. The game should be yours now as well since you are earning more per turn than your adversary. If you let the computer attack you first in round 5 you should easily earn a gold star by winning in 11 rounds. I was able to do it by round eight using the following method.

Turn 5. Distribute 6 units to both blade four and blade eight. From blade eight reinforce blade four with one army, from blade four reinforce blade eight with one army and from blade eight to hilt eight attack with all units. Hopefully you conquered hilt eight. If you did then your opponent just lost 7 units per round giving you a massive advantage and it's time for you to put the hammer down. If not repeat the previous turn.

Edited 5/19/2020 04:38:01