Your first job is picking a faction. This decision is critical because it determines how you’ll ruin everyone’s day.

1. Space Marines: The Emperor’s Awkward Middle Managers

Pros: Giant armored dudes with chainsaws. Drop pods make you feel like you're ordering fast food, but with bolters.

Cons: Expensive units. They’re like gourmet war—costly, classy, and occasionally disappointing.



2. Astra Militarum: The Paperwork Warriors

Pros: Spam tanks and Guardsmen like confetti at a parade. Artillery can nuke enemies without making eye contact.

Cons: Guardsmen die faster than you can pronounce "Catachan."



3. Necrons: Glowing Terminators with Daddy Issues

Pros: They regenerate like it's a Marvel movie. Their units look like skeletons who shop at Tron-Mart.

Cons: Building an army feels like resurrecting your tax documents from 2006.



4. Orks: The Green Tide of Dumb Fun

Pros: Waaagh! It’s basically an intergalactic mosh pit. Quantity over quality, always.

Cons: Your strategy is usually "throw more Orks at the problem." Surprisingly, it works.



5. Tyranids: The Galaxy’s Hangry Swarm

Pros: Eat everything. Units are cheap, deadly, and weirdly adorable if you squint.

Cons: If you lose your biomass supply, your army starves faster than you at an all-you-can-eat buffet that’s out of breadsticks.



6. Chaos Space Marines: Emo Space Marines

Pros: Demonic powers, spikey armor, and that edgy vibe you wish you had in high school.

Cons: Your gods are fickle, and you’ll never outbrood the Necrons.

1. City Building

Your city is your fortress, factory, and responsibility you’ll neglect as soon as the war starts. Build resource generators, research buildings, and things that explode.

Space Marines: One city only, because the Emperor believes in micromanagement.

Everyone Else: Build more cities until the map looks like a franchise expansion chart.



2. Resources

You’ll need food, energy, requisition, and ore. Necrons will also need "influence," which is just a fancy way of saying "peer pressure from ancient gods."

Don’t run out of resources. If you do, your troops will politely inform you they can’t fight because they’re hungry.



3. Exploration

Send scouts to poke around the map. Find out where the enemies are, then forget to retreat your scouts until they get obliterated by some rampaging neutral wildlife.

Watch out for ambulls. They’re like rhinos but angrier and more allergic to your presence.

1. Early Game

Focus on claiming resource nodes and bullying neutral wildlife. Nothing says "strategy" like ganging up on an innocent pack of Kroot Hounds.

Don’t overextend. Your units are fragile early on, except for Necrons, who are basically the Terminator on loop.



2. Mid-Game

Start building your doom stack. You know, that giant pile of units you’ll march around the map like a parade of bad intentions.

Balance your forces. You’ll need melee units for bashing, ranged units for shooting, and artillery for ruining someone’s day from three hexes away.



3. Late Game

By now, you’ve probably declared war on everyone (or vice versa). Send your massive army to crush their cities while praying your economy doesn’t collapse under the weight of your ambition.

Use your faction’s ultimate unit to flex on your enemies. Whether it’s a Baneblade, a Knight, or a Tyrannocyte, make it count by blowing something up in style.

1. The Bait-and-Switch:

Leave a vulnerable unit out in the open. When the enemy bites, ambush them with a second army hiding in the bushes. Bonus points if you yell, "SURPRISE!"



2. The Ork Maneuver:

Charge straight at the enemy. Ignore casualties. Keep yelling "Waaagh!" until you win or your computer crashes.



3. The Necron Shuffle:

Let the enemy kill your troops, then resurrect them in front of their faces. Laugh maniacally while saying, "Death is only the beginning."



4. The Tyranid Diet Plan:

Devour every resource node on the map until you’re too fat to fail. If an enemy complains, eat them too.

1. Domination Victory:

Crush everyone. Burn their cities. Make their troops regret signing up for war.



2. Quest Victory:

Follow your faction’s storyline, complete objectives, and pretend you’re here for the plot.

Spoiler: The plot is usually "kill things until the objective marker disappears."



3. Survival Victory:

If you’re still alive after 100 turns, congrats! You’ve officially outlasted your enemies and your will to live.

Gladius isn’t just a game—it’s a test of your patience, tactical genius, and ability to tolerate a dozen lasgun-wielding Guardsmen getting obliterated by a single Chaos Lord. Win or lose, remember: in the grim darkness of the far future, you can always restart and try again.

Now go forth, commander, and conquer Gladius Prime! Just… don’t forget to save your game. You’ll thank me later.