In setting up Custom Battles for multiplayer and singleplayer there are lots of options. This guide will provide a brief overview of what they are and what they mean.

Battle Name: (multiplayer only) players can enter a descriptive name to be displayed in the list of battles, if left blank a default name will be shown.

Map: players can choose which battle map to fight on. The options are Random, Desert Dust Up, Coastal Conflict, Frozen Fracas, Ruin Rumble and Snowbound Showdown.

There are multiple options for each of the 4 possible players

Player: this option sets the player type for players 2 to 4 can be set Player (multiplayer only) for an actual person, or for AI it designates race with options of Random, Human, Elf or Orc. This can also be set to None if you don't want this player in the game. This option does not exist for player 1 as they are the Host of the battle i.e. you.

Difficulty: this option sets the difficulty level for players 2 to 4 and only applies to AI players. Options are Random, Easy, Medium and Hard.

Team: this option sets the teams/allies for players 1 to 4. There can be up to 4 teams depending on the number of players.

Colour: this option sets the unit colour for players 1 to 4. The options are Blue, Red, Orange, Yellow, Purple, Pink, Cyan and Green

Victory: in general the winning team is essentially the last team standing, so this option is more for determining how players are defeated

Town Flag Capture: players are defeated when their town flag is captured by another player

Total Annihilation: players are defeated when their population is 0 and they have no building with more than 1HP

Casualties of War: players are defeated when they reach 1000 deaths or are wiped out as per Total Annihilation

Capture the Flag: players are defeated when an enemy player captures the flag in the middle of the map or are wiped out as per Total Annihilation

Resources: this sets the starting resource values, with options of Low, Medium and High

Zombies: this sets how many zombies spawn from unlooted/unburnt corpses, with options of Off, Low and High

NPC Creeps: turns On/Off NPC Creeps which are random ogre/goblin camps, small human forts and wolf/warg packs that attack all players that come near to them

Resource Nodes: turns On/Off Resource Nodes which are mining pit/animal pen/lumber yard looking areas with flags that you can capture to get resource income

Dragon Treasure: a chest guarded by a dragon that can be opened by a Hero/Mage after the dragon is slain - gives crafting items if playing online.

Friends Only: (multiplayer only) allows you to restrict those who can join your games to those on your Friends List (they must have added you as a Friend as well)

Race: you can change the race you will play as by clicking the animated unit portraits at the bottom of the screen