When two armies clash in Warlords IV, the game pits individual units against one another until one dies. The controller of the dead creature then gets to choose the next soldier to step into the fray, though between these skirmishes, archer units and defense towers can unleash arrow attacks, and siege units can attack defending towers to knock them down (and cause them to stop firing arrows). While the system may seem like a simplistic slugfest, at first, it's actually surprisingly strategic, since your units' special abilities and your magic spells can affect the outcome of a battle significantly. For instance, certain evil units have an ability, called "terror," which not only decreases an enemy's effectiveness in battle, but it can also "frighten" an enemy out of battle, forcing the opposing player to choose a different unit to fight instead.