I just started playing the game and i came across a few things that need to the be addressed:

1. When a group of units are all routed in one hexagonal section and an enemy army enters that area are all the routed units forced to retreat to a new area? or do the enemy units get an opportunity to deal damage to the routed figures? what happens?

2. Besides being an area to spawn more units and build developments, what does a stronghold do for you and what does the number on the token mean? why 5 on one side and 3 on another? and how does a stronghold get damaged? the rule book had little to say about strongholds.

3. Collecting neutral units, I'm a little confused with that but do you get neutral units based on the areas you control that list how many starting units are on the hex? or do you go by the number on the city token that you own? not sure how it works

4. Can an army just decide to destroy a city? or are cards required to allow you to destroy a city?

5. Say you inhabited a hex and you moved all your units from that hex, you no longer control that area correct? if so when calculating who controls the most runes, if there are no units on a hex that contains a rune on it is it ruled out that no one gets it? or does the person who placed the rune still have control of it?

Edenbro said:

If the units were routed before the enemy enters, they cannot retreat; they would be destroyed.

Edenbro said:

The number on the token adds to your "strength" when determining the winner of the battle. After each unit has pulled cards (as applicable), you count the number of standing units left on each side; the result is that side's "strength". Whoever has the higher strength, wins; the other side has to retreat. Strongholds add 5 (or 3) to the defender's strength, making it easier for them to defend an area. When you first build a Stronghold, it starts on the 5 side. After a battle, it is reduce to 3 (and you'd have to use a Fortify order to repair it back to 5).

Edenbro said:

You can only really "recruit" new Neutrals from off the board through cities; the icons on the hex tiles themselves merely indicate which neutrals start the game on the board. They can be recruited via Diplomacy, but once they are gone, they are not refreshed during the game.

Edenbro said:

The only way to destroy a city is with the Raze City tactics card, or the Rain of Fire season card. You cannot just voluntarily destroy it otherwise.

Edenbro said:

Correct, you only control areas that you have at least one unit (or a stronghold) in. The only exception is you ALWAYS control your home areas, even if you have no units or strongholds, unless there is an enemy unit or stronghold.

sigmazero13 said:

The stonghold is only damaged if there are still enemy units standing while determining strenght. So if they are all routed or detroyd, meaning the attacker has a strenght of zero, then the stronghold is not damaged. (Pag. 20 of the rulebook)

True, I should have mentioned that. It's not very common for the attacker to be completely wiped out though (not that it's impossible, however).

thanks guys i just want to reconfirm the question about receiving neutral units, so if you receive a neutral unit from a city, what unit is it that you get? i see on the token it tells you to get a certain kind of base such as a triangle or rectangle but there are multiple units under that category, what do you draw?

Edenbro said:

For the Triangle cities, you can choose which units you get. If it's the city that has a "2" on the Triangle, you could choose 2 Beastmen, 2 Razorwings, or 1 of each.

The other two shapes on cities (circle and rectangle) only have one matching type, so you just take sorcerers or hellhounds, respectively. There are no cities with Hexagons, so you cannot recruit Giants or Dragons that way