All Unit Types in Command An Army, Explained

Every battle question in Command An Army ultimately routes back to one line-up decision: which four units do you bring, and what does each one do? The game fields six unit classes, and they are not cosmetic variety — they map cleanly onto battlefield roles that the objective system (see the capture points guide) constantly stresses. This page is the reference for all six, with the role each plays in a four-slot army.

What do the frontline classes do?

Sword & Shield is the workhorse holder: a shield for the line, a sword for anything that collides with it. When a guide on this site says “bring a frontline”, this is the default answer — balanced, upgradeable, and common enough to Ascend quickly (see the rarity guide for why that matters).

Heavy Shields is the heavier anchor. Where Sword & Shield balances mobility and durability, Heavy Shields leans all the way into immovability — the unit you want inside a point contest or at the head of a defensive line that must not fold. The trade is speed: a Heavy Shields line forms slowly and repositions slower, which suits defending more than attacking.

What does the Spears class do?

Spears are discipline made flesh. Historically the anti-charge class, spears reward exactly what this game’s formation orders teach: set lines, braced stances, and enemies who must come to you. A spear line behind (or beside) shields punishes anything that commits into it. Its weakness mirrors its strength — caught moving or flanked, a spear formation loses the standoff that makes it scary.

What do Ranged units do?

Ranged units are the breakers. They do two jobs no other class does:

1. Shredding collisions. A push that crashes into a shield wall while your ranged units fire over it loses the exchange badly — this is the core defensive pattern of the game.
2. Unsetting defenses. On attack, ranged pressure forces defenders to leave comfortable set positions, creating the openings your own line exploits.

They are also the most position-dependent class: with a frontline in front of them they are a win condition, without one they are a snack. The Archer line’s documented evolution into Longbowman (see evolution paths) makes them a classic long-term slot.

What does Cavalry do?

Cavalry owns the space before the fight. Its value is approach speed and flanking — winning the open ground, punishing units caught mid-move, and deciding where the collision happens. On the point itself its value drops, which is why the game ships a dedicated dismount order for mounted units fighting in cramped terrain (covered in the formations guide).

Cavalry is the signature class of the attacking tempo — if you pick attack-first in your first matches, it will earn its slot immediately.

What are Special units?

Special units are the wildcard slot of the six-class list — the units that exist to break the template. The game’s roster is days old, so the honest position is: individual Special units are still being documented, and their value will be situational by design. In a four-slot army, the Special slot is the flex — the place you tune after your holder and breaker are locked in. Our army building guide treats it exactly that way, and as the roster is mapped, unit-by-unit pages will live in this category.

How do the classes pair up?

Individual classes are ingredients; pairs are recipes. The combinations that show up in winning launch-week armies:

Two observations from building pairs. First, every pair has a third unit that answers it — cavalry flanks the bows, spears punish the horses, shields shrug off the spears — which is why a four-slot army wants coverage rather than doubling. Second, the pairs explain the formation orders intuitively: each pairing has a stance that makes it work (block for the wall, attack for the flank), and issuing orders that match your pairing is most of the command game.

Which two classes cover the most ground?

If you can only field a minimal core before your flex slots fill in: a shield class and a ranged class. That pair holds ground, breaks pushes, and gives your formation orders something coherent to anchor — every other class improves a lineup that already has those two, and no class fully replaces either. The beginner guide sequences your first recruits around exactly that core.

How do you put the classes together?

The composition question — which four, in what balance, for which side — has its own guide: start with army building for the role framework, then the beginner guide for the first-hour sequence (codes first — 1,400 free Gems on the codes page fund your first four slots).