Greetings, chief! You’re in charge of a Clash of Clans village – both growing it and defending it from marauders.

With smart planning and a firm grasp on the basics, you’ll dominate this barbarian-fueled fantasy. Get your army off the ground with these tips.

Unlock Practice

Practice mode is a great way to learn the ropes – but before you can dive into these helpful tutorials, you’ll need to earn a level-3 Town Hall. Single Player missions are a quick way to gain resources, and tapping the “upgrade” button on your Town Hall will tell you which buildings to craft to level up.

Test out your new units in practice and single player before taking them into online brawls.

Protect yourself

Once you’ve amassed some gold and elixir, head to the shop and buy Wall materials to bulk up your defenses. Some well-placed Archer Towers and cannons should fend off your first few raiders.

Check your Defense Log

Eventually a rival will attack and destroy some of your structures. Learn from your losses by checking the Defense Log. It shows exactly how other players got around your defenses. Now you can upgrade those cannons accordingly.

Village Edit mode lets you save specific layouts, which you can quickly use as your active base.

Waste not

Once you send units into battle, you can’t get them back – even if they survive. Trained a load of archers? Deploy just enough to win the battle and save the rest for another fight.

Jump into multiplayer

Ready for the big leagues? Hop into multiplayer to get paired up with a similarly skilled opponent. Every enemy village layout is different, and you’ll typically score a ton of loot – even if you get completely stomped.