The Most Efficient Invasion of Meridell Strategy

Understanding the Game

Would you like to earn an avatar and trophy in just over three hours? Have you never tried playing IOM before, or tried but given up after endlessly ranking up your troops, only to run out of motivation before the month's end? If so, this guide is for you!

First: The Preliminary Pages

These are important to read so that you understand the game.

Main: This page will introduce you to the game and show you the four possible trophies you can win. The Runner-Up Medal is awarded to everyone for completing Mission 5 Battle 3 at any time; The Gold, Silver, and Bronze Trophies are awarded according to the IOM High Score Table. Therefore, you must restart your game by deleting your army on the first of the month if you want to aim for one of these. You can also win an avatar for completing a certain mission and battle within the month.

Instructions: This page provides you with some VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Notice the section that explains conversions? You will be using this to your advantage!!!

Strategy Guide: This page shows you what ranks are. Basically, when one of your troops gains a rank, their attack and defense strengths increase, which will increase your chances of doing damage to your enemy and surviving their attack on you. Pay attention to the chart below; I will be referring back to it later!

Lost Items: This page explains your goal: save the villages (to earn game points) and recover the Lost Items in each Mission (to increase your army's attack and defense strengths).

Second: Your Army

Play: This page will bring you to your army.

If you have ever played IOM before and are aiming for the avatar and/or trophy, please restart your game by pressing ‘delete’ at the bottom of the page. Keep doing this until your army's attack and defense statistics are similar to mine below.

MAKE SURE THAT YOUR MOEHOG AND TECHO HAVE 8 AND 9 STRENGTH POINTS RESPECTIVELY and that everyone has good defense. Then, rename your troops so that you will be able to distinguish them from converted troops later.

Example Statistics: (Name – Attack Strength – Defense Strength)

Moehog – 8 – 11

Skeith – 18 – 10

Techo – 9 – 11

Scorchio – 13 – 12

Grundo – 14 – 14

Your points do NOT need to exactly match mine, but remember: a little bit of patience here can save you a lot of work later!

Third: The Board

Click here: Continue on to Mission 1 Battle 1 to see your starting position including villages and mountains, and items on the board (left); and troops' names, ranks, health, strength and defense points, weapons, and saves (right).

Starting Position: Generally, your troops start at the bottom of the map; your enemies at the top. Many mountains are strewn randomly about the board - these are obstacles that you and your enemy cannot walk over. Your villages are in the bottom half of the board and serve as obstacles to your troops and targets to your enemies.

Items on the board: Each Battle, you will see two types of one-use items on the board - the lost item and health potions. You can click the icons at the bottom of the page if you want to view their information, but WAIT TO COLLECT THE LOST ITEM UNTIL BATTLE 3 of each Mission. If you lose a mission after collecting the Lost Item, you will lose the extra strength and defense points it give you. Lastly, use the health potions as needed to heal your troops, but never allow your enemy to pass!

Health: This obviously determines whether you live or die! During the First Wave (Missions 1-5) your troops can have a maximum of 18 points, and during the Second Wave (Missions 6-10) your troops can have a maximum of 21 points. Also, be sure to watch your enemies’ health too! It is best to hit the enemy with the least amount of health to defeat them quickly.

Strength and Defense: This determines how hard you hit your enemies, and vice versa. You can have a maximum of 18 strength and 14 defense points for each troop in the First Wave, and a maximum of 19 strength and 14 defense points for each troop in the Second Wave.

Weapons: There are also two types of items that your troops can equip - attack and defense items. Always get the best items that you can for each of your troops! Pick up a weapon or defense item by moving your troop onto its square. If you already have an item equipped and step on another, you will drop your item to pick up the new one. Pay special attention to items that have special species-specific bonuses. And most importantly, FOLLOW THE MISSION GUIDE BELOW to see which items you will need to obtain to continue successfully!

Saves: These determine your rank! For each enemy that you kill, the troop that killed it will receive one save. Accumulating saves to get to a higher rank gives your troop one more strength and defense point.

Ranks: Remember that chart? ;) TO GAIN RANKS YOU MUST LET YOUR ENEMIES CONVERT YOUR NEW TROOPS (ENEMIES YOU HAVE JUST CONVERTED) BACK INTO ENEMIES TO KILL THEM AGAIN. To do so: kill all but one enemy, place a new troop on top/north of him and hit End Turn until he is converted into an enemy. DO NOT accidentally kill one of your five original troops. Kill one of the enemies and repeat. See the Ranking Up section below.

Boosts: Your total ‘strength boost’ and ‘defense boost’ are shown in the parenthesis. These are a combination of the boost given to your troop due to their rank and the current items equipped. Better items will give you a better boost... and a better boost will give you a better chance to hit and defend against your enemy.

Fourth: Playing

There is a total of 10 Missions. Each Mission is composed of 3 Battles (for a total of 30 Battles).

Where to Position Your Troops: Move your troops to the fifth row from the bottom (sixth from the top) so that your enemies cannot reach the villages. You must border an enemy on one of the eight compass directions in order to prevent it from moving further. (That is, you can have a gap of up to two spaces between your troops, except for at the sides of the board.)

How to Move: Click on your troop and then a neighboring space - you can go up, down, to either side, or diagonally. Each troop can only move a limited number of times, shown below the map, and turn red when they can no longer move. You move five times in a row, and then your enemy moves. Repeat. From there, start attacking your enemies by clicking on your troop and then the enemy. Remember, it is always best to attack the WEAKEST enemy first!

Damage Chart: Most people pay this no attention, but this is the mechanism which calculates how much damage you do to your enemies and vice versa. The basic equation is (damage = random roll between 1 and 20 + your strength boost + your item boost – your enemies defense boost). Troops are converted once they reach or go below 0 health points.

Finishing the Battle/Mission: After you defeat all of your enemies, you have to re-select your troops. Remember to rank-up all of your troops before ending the Mission (Battle 3)! If you lose any of your original five troops, you must forfeit that Mission by hitting End Turn until you die... but don't worry! This only restarts your current Mission, not the entire game. Once you’ve successfully completed a Battle, keep your original five troops by leaving their check-boxes blank and delete your new, useless troops by checking them and pressing Remove at the bottom of the page.

Lost Item: Get this at the end of Battle 3 of each Mission. Stop once you kill ALL BUT TWO or three of your enemies. (Once you only have one enemy left, the Lost Item disappears for that Battle and if that Battle is your last, you will not be able to get the Item for that Mission.) Move one troop up to the top of the board (preferably your Moehog as he can move the quickest) to retrieve the Lost Item, which earns your troops each +1 strength and defense point. You *can* get the Lost Item before Battle 3, but I would not recommend it unless you are an experienced player. Remember that if you lose the Mission after you get the Item, you will keep the Item but LOSE its strength and defense bonus.

NOW FOR THE MOST IMPORTANT PART:

Fifth: Ranking Up

During Battle 3 of the first five Missions you must rank up! To do so:

1. Kill all but one enemy

2. Place one of your new troops on top/north of him and hit End turn until he is converted into an enemy. DO NOT accidentally let one of your main five troops die during the wait.

3. Kill one of the enemies and repeat.

While ranking up, keep in mind the order that your enemy attacks its surroundings (top, bottom, top left, left, bottom left, top right, right, bottom right). Sometimes the left and right will be reversed.

[3][1][6]

[4][X][7]

[5][2][8]

Cluster your troops around the enemies and new troop so that they can all reach them to get saves. If someone in your troop is low on health, place them in a low-priority space (i.e. the bottom right).

Note: You can only gain ONE RANK PER MISSION. This means that a troop will stop accumulating saves after they have ranked up in that Mission. (They can start again in the next Mission, no worries.)

Backing Up Your Troops: Protect your troops when they are low on health! As shown above, your enemy will first attack the troop on top/north of him, then progress through the rest of the numbers. Thus, you can place converted troops on top/north of your enemies to prevent your original troops from dying. Remember that you must still heal your troops using potions or the Scroll! (The Scroll will be explained later.)

MISSION GUIDE

Don't worry; the long part of this guide is over. :P

Now that you really know the game, you can use this section as a quick reference for each Mission. YOU MUST GET THE WEAPONS THAT I MENTION. I will put them in caps. Other than that, the ones in my examples are just the best available by that time. Also, it’s okay if you get more saves than shown below. Don’t stress out about only having the troops that you are trying to rank up kill your enemies.

BEFORE STARTING: MAKE SURE THAT YOUR MOEHOG AND TECHO HAVE 8 AND 9 STRENGTH POINTS!

Mission One

Set-up: Move your troops to the usual row – the 5th from the bottom.

Goals: Get everyone items; 3 saves each. (If you let each troop kill one enemy in each Battle they will each have 3 saves by the end of the Mission.)

Final Product: (Name – Rank – Attack – Item – Defense – Item – Saves)

Moehog – Defender – 10 – Mace – 13 – Staff – 3

Skeith – Defender – 18 – Mace – 12 – Staff – 3

Techo – Defender – 11 – Sword – 13 – Staff – 3

Scorchio – Defender – 15 – Mace – 14 – Staff – 3

Grundo – Defender – 16 – Mace – 14 – Staff – 3

Note: You might not want to use your Moehog until Mission 1 Battle 3. Why? Because you will be gaining 5 new Moehogs in the first two Battles. If one of these new Moehogs has a higher defense than your current Moehog, it is better to keep the new Moehog. If you do exchange Moehogs, be aware that the order of your troops at the bottom of the board will change, as your Moehog will now start on the far right. You will also want to rename your Moehog and he will need to gain 3 saves in Mission 1 Battle 3 to continue.

Mission Two

Set-up: You need the Amulet to be within two spaces of your Skeith. You can restart the Mission by hitting End Turn until your villages are sacked until the Amulet is within reach. This will NOT affect your score! Use the Amulet to teleport your Skeith somewhere within the usual row to block the 6th enemy. Continue to move your other troops up to fight.

Goals: Get your Skeith the Amulet and your Scorchio the Bow; your Moehog, Techo, and Scorchio 9 saves each. The Bow will let your Scorchio hit enemies from two spaces away once he's a Soldier. Refer back to the RANKING UP section for help.

Final Product:

Moehog – Soldier – 12 – Bow – 14 – Amulet – 9

Skeith – Defender – 18 – Bow – 13 – AMULET – 3

Techo – Soldier – 13 – Sword – 14 – Amulet – 9

Scorchio – Soldier – 17 – BOW – 14 – Amulet – 9

Grundo – Defender – 17 – Bow – 14 – Staff – 3

Mission Three

Set-up: Teleport your Skeith in the middle of enemies 6 and 7's paths. If there are mountains in your way, you must quickly move your Moehog up to help your Skeith's blocking. Move everyone else BUT YOUR GRUNDO.

Goals: Get your Grundo the Scroll; your Moehog and Techo 32 saves each. The Scroll will let your Grundo heal other troops. While the injured troop and Grundo each have an available move left, click on your Grundo and then the hurt troop to heal them. This will count as your Grundo taking one move. Keep in mind that your Grundo cannot heal himself! So keep him out of harm's way by letting him hang out in the back near his starting position.

SPECIAL TIP: HEAL OFTEN! It is not unusual for me to use 2 of my 5 turns healing, often several times in a row.

Final Product:

Moehog – Captain – 14 – Scroll – 14 – Helmet – 32

Skeith – Defender – 18 – Scroll – 13 – AMULET – 3

Techo – Captain – 15 – Sword – 14 – Shield – 32

Scorchio – Soldier – 18 – BOW – 14 – Shield – 9

Grundo – Defender – 18 – SCROLL – 14 – Shield – 3

Mission Four

Set-up: Teleport your Skeith up and quickly move your Moehog to block the 3 closest enemies. Then move your Techo and Scorchio.

Goals: Get your Techo and Moehog 64 saves each.

Final Product:

Moehog – Lieutenant – 16 – Scroll – 14 – Helmet – 64

Skeith – Defender – 18 – Scroll – 14 – AMULET – 3

Techo – Lieutenant – 17 – Sword – 14 – Shield – 64

Scorchio – Soldier – 18 – BOW – 14 – Armor – 9

Grundo – Defender – 18 – SCROLL – 14 – Robe – 3

Mission Five

Set-up: Same as before.

Goals: Get your Moehog the Helmet and 96 saves. (Note: the Battleaxe is really strong! It is now time for your Scorchio to abandon his faithful bow. Also, it will also give your Skeith an extra turn after teleportation. )

Final Product:

Moehog – Corporal – 18 – Axe – 14 – HELMET – 96

Skeith – Defender – 18 – Axe – 14 – AMULET – 3

Techo – Lieutenant – 18 – Axe – 14 – Shield – 64

Scorchio – Soldier – 18 – Axe – 14 – Armor – 9

Grundo – Defender – 18 – SCROLL – 14 – Robe – 3

Mission Six

Set-up: Same as before. Save the Invader Buzzes for last - they're very tedious to kill! They will also cast spells that immobilize (stop) your Skeith's and Grundo's abilities to teleport and heal. You must use your Moehog's Helmet to free the Grundo and your Techo's Sword to free the Skeith. Do so by clicking on one troop, then the other.

Goals: Get your Techo the Sword of Deflection!

SPECIAL TIP: Don't be discouraged if you keep missing those Invader Buzzes. You need to be lucky in order to get a high enough roll to counter their high defense, but if you’ve followed my guide to the word, you’ll be able to do a maximum of 6 damage to them per turn. Also, when an Invader Buzz is killed, it leaves a crater in its path – you cannot convert them.

Final Product:

Moehog – Corporal – 19 – Axe – 14 – HELMET – xxx

Skeith – Defender – 19 – Axe – 14 – AMULET – xx

Techo – Lieutenant – 19 – SWORD – 14 – Shield – xx

Scorchio – Soldier – 19 – Axe – 14 – Armor – xx

Grundo – Defender – 19 – SCROLL – 14 – Robe – xx

Mission Seven

Set-up: Same as before... like 2 Invader Buzzes weren't enough? Take 3.

Final Product:

Moehog – Corporal – 19 – Axe – 14 – HELMET – xxx

Skeith – Defender – 19 – Axe – 14 – AMULET – xx

Techo – Lieutenant – 19 – SWORD – 14 – Shield – xx

Scorchio – Soldier – 19 – Axe – 14 – Armor – xx

Grundo – Defender – 19 – SCROLL – 14 – Robe – xx

Congratulations!

Hopefully you now have a lovely new avatar and trophy!