What are neutral cities?#
Rule of thumb: cities nobody owns yet, held by a gray garrison. You can take them, but you don't have to.
Some maps start with cities between the two sides that belong to no one. Each is held by a neutral garrison, drawn in gray. The Rules panel in a game lists how big that map's garrisons are. In a free-for-all, a knocked-out player's land and armies turn neutral too.
On Central Europe, the cities between the two blocs start neutral, Berlin, Munich and Vienna among them.
How does a garrison fight?#
- A garrison never moves, never builds and never digs in.
- Terrain and rivers still help it, like any defender.
- It's exempt from supply.
- A beaten garrison is destroyed; it never falls back.
How much does it take to capture one?#
Rule of thumb: a real attack, not a spare stack.
A garrison of 5 infantry in a plains city defends at 10. 3 armor (10.5) win 52% of the time. 4 armor and 1 artillery firing in (16) win 72%. Forest, mountain or urban cities and river borders make it much harder: bring support.
Is it worth it?#
Rule of thumb: worth it when you can take it cheaply, and when it sits on your path anyway.
A neutral city you capture pays the full 3 each turn, not the half you get from an enemy city. It's also a city to build in nearer the front. But a bloc wins by taking every enemy city, even with neutral cities still standing, so you never need them.
What if both sides walk in at once?#
If both teams enter the same neutral city in the same step, they fight each other first. The winner then fights the garrison. When three or more players walk in at once, they all roll together first; see Free-for-all.