1. If your opponent is flanking you, the best thing you can do is pressure their scout and pressure it early. if he has to return his scout then that leaves his knights open to attack, and when he;'s flanking with 2 kngiths and a scout, it's a prime time to move in one knight of your own to flank him, and leave your scout somehwere safe, he won't have the defense to be able to deal with it.
2. I said earlier that scouts will shoot a chanty before she can be barriered. This is not always true, and this is why you should not actually use your scout until the chanty is dead. If you move or attack with your scout while the chanty is still alive, and your knights are nearby, then the chanty will freeze the knights and barrier before the scout has a chance to recover and break the focus. In other words, the scout may as well not have been there. You can use this to your advantage too, if you are ever in the position of being attacked by knights; offer a unit as scout bait, get your opponent to use the scout, and then freeze and barrier.
3. Don't go after a unit unless you think you're 99% sure you're going to kill it. There's no point in reducing a knight to 1 HP while it devastates your formation, only for it to retreat into a knight wall and be healed back to full health 16 turns later, while you take potshots at it's front hoping for a lucky hit. Similarly, if you can do this to an opponent, it's a good way of annoying them.
4. Try and think about what your opponent is planning. This is not necessary against a bad player, who often has no idea what they're doing anyway, but against a good player look at the game from his perspective. See what you would do in his position (which is often what he's about to do), and move accordingly. If you can stop him making the move he wants to, that's always useful; it throws out his battle plans and makes him think higher of you. If he thinks he can't beat you in attack because you block his moves, he will defend. Then you can attack him where you choose, rather than where he chooses.
5. A master of LOS rules will not only use them in attack, but also block them in defense. Without a furgon, this can be difficult, but when using a chanty it's often helpful to stay on the back rank with a unit just in front of you, as this blocks off the *aim for the square behind* LOS shot. This is far more pertinent in a gold game, but it's useful in the grey game too, if you can pull it off. And be sure to block all LOS shots to the cleric if you can. Putting him in the corner helps this a lot.
6. As stated above, don't play to your opponent's strengths. If he has 2 clerics, you're not going to be able to beat him in a straight battle. You either have to kill the clerics (recommended, but not always possible, despite there being 1 less attacker to defend them) or freeze the tough units (knights) and pick off the weak ones (scout, mages, chanty) before they can be healed.

Opposite side turtle matches.

You'll find many variations on turtle formations. Some players who haven't tried the chanty before will use 2 pyros instead of the chanty/BW, or even a witch drop or two if they have one. Some will have a second cleric instead of the chanty. Some will have the chanty, and no pyros. Whichever formation you are facing, your tactics should always be the same; attack.

Look at it this way. Would you rather be worrying about how to guard your cleric the whole time, or making your opponent worry about how to guard his cleric the whole time? That's what I say to people who say, "ah, well greys don't have enough firepower to attack". Greys do have firepower, and they are called knights. People just don't seem to be willing to risk them.

So many formations that you play will defend against you. That's fine; it allows you to strike where you want. And the place to strike is the enemy's weakest point, which is commonly the flank. There's no LW there, and usually no knights at the start. So move your 2 knights from your knight wall up, and put your scout in the corner opposite your opponent on your opponent's side of the field; well away from any attackers, but with the ability to move in and attack any space in the opponent's corner of the board. The threat is what matters. Leave the scout there, and move in with the knights.

Bad opponents will leave holes in the defensive line, thinking that if your knight comes through the hole, he'll be killed/frozen. Call their bluff and march through with both knights at once. Aim to kill any chanties first, since they die in 3 hits from knights even with 2 healings (the last hit can be made with the scout), and that then frees up your scout. Use the scout and the knights that are left to reach the enemy cleric. (Even if the cleric is barriered, you have a scout to break the barrier's focus.) You should be able to kill the chanty and the cleric before you lose both knights. When you have achieved this, retreat your scout and any surviving knights, and heal up.

Your opponent will be shellshocked (hopefully) by this. Now is the time to strike with your other knight, assassin, and witch. Take out the enemy scout (now that the cleric is dead, it only takes 2 hits from knight/witch, and retreating the scout into the knight wall will only delay its death). You should now be left with 3 knights, an assassin, and mages (which can be sniped by your scout) to deal with. Roll on the chanty, as mentioned above.

If your opponent doesn't use a chanty, even better. This gives you pretty much free rein to use your scout as well as your knights right from the off. Go for the mages first, as they will be the main problems to your knights, being unblockable. Then go for the cleric. You'll then be in the same position as above, and you'll most likely still have one of your attacking 2 knights left.

You may find a good opponent will move knights across to cover the flank when you attack with your knights. This is where the assassin comes in handy, as a flanker. Move her over to the other flank, that the enemy knights have just vacated (near the LW), and move past the LW without entering it's range using her superior movement. The enemy will send over a knight to kill the assassin or face losing their cleric, and you get in through the hole left by the knight with your own knights, as above. If the enemy uses mages to kill the assassin, it might be a good idea to send a knight over there too. Remember, knights beat mages once they get stuck in, because they can take a good few hits before dying. Moreover, the enemy mages will get no support from their own knights, who are holding the flank.

So in summary, to beat an opposite corner turtle, attack the flank with knights and have a scout as support, and get the cleric. Kill the scout and mages, and mop up the melee units with your chanty when they attack you.

On the other hand, you might be playing someone as good as you, who has also read this strategy guide and wants to attack you as much as you want to attack him. In this sort of game, whoever gets in amongst the opponent first will win, there not being enough defenders to stop them. (If you decide to defend, what I've said above will happen, only it'll happen to YOU.) So you need to get your knights in there quicker than they get theirs in.

Sometimes, a good way to do this is to attack one of the knights before they get into position. Using your witch on one knight and then barriering it, then maybe taking a side shot with your scout as you move it up will reduce a knight to 18 HP, enough for the witch to finish it off. (If the enemy heals this damage, they're wasting time which you can use to attack yourself or to deal more damage to that knight. Concentrate on one unit at a time, remember?) This may make that knight retreat, and the second that it has to retreat, he has lost. He will have his scout and one knight stranded, another knight injured and pulled back, and your knights and scout ready to charge his flank which has 1 knight left to defend it.

This is the best thing to do if you have second turn. If the enemy has first turn, they will usually get to you before you get to them. If you get first turn, you should be able to do likewise, although it is possible that the enemy may go for broke and kill your cleric while you're killing his. Then it's a free-for-all, which can't be helped by any tactical talk from me, but improvised as you go along.

Same side turtle matches.

This section is the hardest to write, as a lot depends on exact positioning of frontline units. However, I do have one excellent tactic that allows me to even beat people who have extra pyros, who are therefore at a massive advantage by being able to break down the enemy front line easier.

First move, blast their knight which has its flank open with your LW. Don't waste your time going for the enemy LW; it will just get barriered when it gets low on health, and you don't have the unblockable units to kill it anyway if you're not including a pyro. Hopefully the enemy will fall for the trick, and use his LW as well. This leaves your witch open to advance in front of your own row of knights, blast the same knight (leaving it on 9), and barrier the witch next turn.

If he moves the knight back, the path is open for a witchburn on his cleric. If he leaves it there, use your flanking scout to shoot at its flank or move up your own knight to attack it. If he barriers it, his BW is now occupied- you can go for another unit with your LW, and when your witch has recovered, retreat it again.

Be careful in using your BW. Once you've used it, that unit can't be healed and often can't retreat either because it risks dying. Try not to commit your BW early, except if the enemy focuses on your LW (which can't retreat anyway). Try to keep your scout options open, so any injured unit that does retreat can be shot at. Go after the enemy scout first as usual, if you can; it's still the most important unit on the field, and 60% blocking isn't that much. By the same token, don't let your own scout become the focus of enemy attacks, especially by mages.

I find that if you have a couple of knights and a scout in a threatening position, your opponent doesn't have the balls to move his own knights away from his defensive wall. Only the best players will go on an attack if they have 2 knights and a scout threatening their cleric.

I don't flank with 3 knights. You only need 2. My first turns are to move up my scout to corner (it's starting position is on the flank at the front, so it only takes one turn for it to move into a position where it can cover the entire corner of the board), move up knight so it's in pyro/witch range. When it gets burned, I take out the offending mage, heal and get another knight up; if it doesn't, I get another knight forward. That's usually enough of a threat that my opponent goes defensive, so I can pick and choose where I attack. If they attack, I still have a witch, knight and assassin, not to mention the chanty, to hold them off. That can deal with anything but a few knights and a scout together, and if they've moved up knights that far, then their cleric is pretty much undefended.

Bottle's Setup Explanation:

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/7628/bottlesgrey1xs.png

I'd like to add Ettiquette to this site. For I realize that it is something sorrowly needed, though you'd think it was a no-brainer, when you get into the game, say hello, be calm, courteous, friendly, and refrain from spouting rude, or innapropriate comments, despite the game situation, or the other player. A no brainer right? unfortunately that is not the case with most people, and so, if someone starts some fude, be the responsible one and don't fuel the fire, just say, alright whatever, and shrug it off. It's over the internet, this person has never met you (probably), so it is foolish to get riled up over someones lack of manners.

However there is another Ettiquette of which I'd like to cover, applying to the game alone. when playing, do not create false accounts to spy on someone's setup so you can log on to your real account and have a custom made setup to destroy their's. I didn't think I'd need to say that but apparently so. Furthermore, stats are meaningless, do not get caught up in stats. they're just statistics. They get wiped once a month for greys in the mirror servers, and if you're not grey, or play in legends, then what does it matter anyways? You've got no time limit, if you're so concerned about being ranked, then play a bit and get them back.

If you are a higher statted player, and are losing to a lower statted player, whatever, you tried, take it like a man, or a woman, doesn't matter, just take it, and don't whine. And finally, at the end of every game, good or bad, say good game (gg) for short. It's a common courtesy.

And finally, try and be patient with people, some players may take longer to think out their moves, let them, it doesn't hurt you. Do unto others as you would like to have done unto yourself. If you are losing the game, and have no chance at winning anymore, do just surrender instead of dragging it out, instead of wasting someone's time.

And with that, enjoy The wonderful turn-based strategy game that is Tactics Arena Online.