“Numerical weakness comes from having to prepare against possible attacks; numerical strength, from compelling our adversary to make these preparations against us.”  -Sun Tzu, Art of War

Territory is a key concept in many games.  In go, territory is the game.  In chess, the concept is called space .  What does territory mean in terms of battlegrounds?

Territory Means Control

• Areas that we can reach before the enemy can is under our control.
• Areas that the enemy can reach before we can is under their control.
• Areas that both we and the enemy can reach at the same time is under neither side’s control and is contested.
• All the areas under our control make up our territory.
• All the areas under the enemy’s control make up their territory.

In truth, area control is better expressed as a gradient (i.e. percentage of control), but the above categories will serve our purposes.

Territory is not to be confused with capture of towers or nodes.  In the map above (highly construed, unrealistic situation for illustrative purposes), every node has been captured by the Horde, but the Alliance controls all of the territory.  Every player that has ever been boxed into the starting area can see why.  The Alliance soldiers can waltz over to any node in 30 seconds or so, but the Horde soldiers must battle through all the Alliance troups.

Territory control is based on the relative position of soldiers.  Even if the our soldiers are standing in the same place, our territory changes, depending on where the enemy is.  As a trivial example, if the Horde soldiers were on the other side of the Alliance soldiers, the territories would be reversed, as in the map below.

The larger our territory, the more resources we will gain relative to our enemy, which gives us a better chance of winning.  Note that “resources” means anything that helps us win the battle – it can be flags, towers, nodes or even just protection of a movement path.  Warsong Gulch is a good example of a map where what we want to control is a movement path (i.e. a path from the enemy flag room to our flag room.)

And that’s really all there is to it.  It’s a simple, but useful concept, as we shall see.

Choke Points

Choke points have always been strategic areas since the beginning of wars because they allow an army to secure a large territory using a relatively small number of soldiers.

A common situation in Arathi Basin is when one side holds 3 bases and wants to defend them to maintain the lead.  If we focus on the nodes, we may think that placing 5 soldiers at each node (let us call this the “3×5 Defence”) might be a good defence, but this is not the case.

• If we look at the contested areas (in yellow), we can see that the 3 Alliance groups are cut off from each other, so sending reinforcements could prove difficult.
• Consider where the Horde soldiers may attack:
  • The northern group may attack the stables or the blacksmith and outnumber the Alliance 8 to 5.
  • The southern group may attack the lumbermill or the blacksmith and outnumber the Alliance 7 yo 5.
  • The northern and southern groups may attack the blacksmith together and outnumber the Alliance 15 to 5, almost guaranteeing a quick cap.

Now consider placing soldiers at the choke points (crossroads areas).  Let us call this the “Choke Points Defence”.

• Now the battles are evenly matched, 8 to 8 in the north and 7 to 7 in the south.  All other things being equal, each battle should be at a stalemate, which is a good thing if you are ahead 3 nodes to 2.
• The key is efficient use of soldiers.  The northern group is protecting both the stables and the blacksmith.  The southern group is protecting both the lumber mill and the blacksmith and to some extent the stables as well.

• Some enemy soldiers may slip by and “ninja” a node.  If this happens, we have  a full minute to recap the node.  There are enough soldiers near each node to get there in time.  The whole group does not need to go!  It’s important to hold the front line.  One soldier who is good at dueling or two (to be safe and quick) should go recap, then promptly rejoin the front.  If the enemy has lots of stealthers, we may wish to station one soldier at the node.  The idea is not that this soldier is will defend the node solo.  This soldier is responsible for alerting the rest of the team of the number of enemies attacking the node and delay the node capture until reinforcements arrive.  Generally, a robust class is good for this role, such as a prot-holy paladin.
• Notice that we are also in a better position to attack the enemy, should their defence fail, or should they choose to combine their two groups in a zerg.  Our southern group can readily attack the farm, while the northern group can readily attack the gold mine.

Capping Flags

On a micro level, the concept of territory is also useful when trying to cap a node.  How many times has it happened where we finally kill off all the enemies and begin capping a node, only to have them respawn and interrupt the capping?  Then we have to start all over again, wasting precious time.  By fighting in the correct areas, we can avoid this and make our hard work pay off.  The key is to have the majority of the attacking party fight where the enemy is spawning (away from the node) and have only 1 soldier at the node capping.

Capping Arathi Basin Gold Mine.

Capping Arathi Basin Blacksmith.

Other Considerations

• When we moved our soldiers from the flag to the choke points, notice that the shape of the contested areas changed.  Once the choke points are occupied, the enemy has less inroads into our territory.  The contested areas are the front line.
• Most soldiers should be placed at the front line, because soldiers inside our territory are contributing neither to offence nor to defence.  An exception is the placement of a small number of “beacons” to expose and delay any would-be ninja cappers.
• Winning consists of expanding our territory to include more resources than the enemy.
• By thinking about and visualizing the territory, rather than the resources, we can make more efficient use of our soldiers through better positioning.  Battlegrounds are more about being at the right place at the right time than individual fighting ability.
• Since territory depends on relative position of soldiers, it is important to know the enemy position.  So communication is key!  Call out where the enemy is and in what numbers.  Where are they moving to?  Where are they moving from?

Words From The Master

How does all this relate to the Sun Tzu quote at the top of the article?  In the 3×5 Defence, we are preparing against possible attacks at any point and from any direction, reducing our numerical strength in the process.  But we can do better than that – we know where the enemy is coming from (their spawn points).  By employing the Choke Points Defence, we compel our adversary to make preparations against a possible attack from the north or from the south, as our soldiers are in striking position.

In Summary

We’ve used Arathi Basin and Eye of the Storm as an example, but once we master the concept of territory, we can apply it to any battleground (and for that matter, any territorial game).  Think about territory in your next battleground.  Try to visualize the boundaries of your team’s territory.  Recognize the weak points, the strong points, and go to where it matters the most.  Look to push the enemy back, crush them, and conquer the world.  But most importantly, remember to have fun!