Written in the Stars

Back Kick - Explosive surprise more to catch opponent from behind. Judge your opponent’s distance from you carefully, then lash out with your back legs, taking the weight on your front paws.

Back Rake - A bit like the belly rake. If you are fighting a cat from the front, jump over the cat’s head and score your claws down their back.

Belly Rake - A fight stopper. Slice with unsheathed claws across soft flesh of your opponent’s belly. If you’re pinned down, the belly rake quickly puts you back in control.

Front Paw Blow - Frontal attack. Bring your front paws down hard on your opponent’s head with claws unsheathed.

Front Paw Strike - Frontal attack. Slice downward with your front paw at the body or face of your opponent with claws unsheathed.

Killing Bite - A death blow to the back of the neck, quick and silent but sometimes is considered dishonourable. This is used only as a last resort.

Leap-and-cover - Ideal for making your opponent feel pain. Leap onto your opponent’s back and put your paws over their eyes. For the moment, the enemy is blinded, sink your claws into the soft skin around their eyes. If your opponent doesn’t flee, take advantage of their temporary blindness to perform the leap-and-hold move.

Leap and Hold - Ideal for a small cat facing a large opponent. Spring onto the opponent’s back and grip with unsheathed claws. Now you are beyond the range of your opponent’s paws and in the position to inflict some severe body wounds. A group of apprentices can defeat a large and dangerous warrior in this way.

Partner Fighting - Warriors who have trained and fought together will often instinctively fall into a paired defensive position, each protecting the other’s back while fending off an opponent on either side. Slashing, clawing, and leaping together, battle pairs can be whirlwind of danger for attackers.

Play Dead - Effective in a tight situation, such as when you are pinned. Stop struggling and go limp. When your opponent relaxes their grip, thinking that you are defeated, push yourself upwards explosively. This will throw off an unwary opponent and put you in the attacking position.

Scruff Shake - Secure a strong-toothed grip in the scruff of your opponent’s neck, then shake violently until he or she is too rattled to fight back. Most effective against rats which are small enough to throw. A strong throw will stun or kill a rat.

Tail Trip - The opponent moves to you and at the right moment, trip them with your tail.

Teeth Grip - Target your opponent’s extremities- the legs, tail, scruff, or ears- and sink your teeth in and hold. This move is similar to the leap and hold, except your claws remain free to fight.

Unbalancing Act - If a cat is going to bring down all its weight on you while rearing on its back legs, roll towards your opponent’s hind legs to unbalance them.

Upright Lock - Rear up on your back legs and bring full weight on your opponent. If your opponent does the same, wrestle and flip them under you. This move makes you vulnerable to the belly rake, so it requires great strength and speed.


Approach from behind your enemy - The advantage is gaining the higher ground is that you can charge at greater speed at the enemy, who will be weakened by having to fight uphill.

Use the light from the sun - The sun should be behind you to dazzle your enemy. In green-leaf, the midday sun is especially bright and cruel to cats who are used to sulking under the cover of the trees. In leaf-bare, the low sun hovers around the eye line like a troublesome bee, keep your enemy facing it and they’ll have trouble seeing an attacker from any direction.

Know where the wind is coming from - If there is a strong wind, it should be blow from behind you towards the enemy, blinding them with dust and holding them back like a current of a river. If you wish to preserve the element of surprise, the wind should blow from the enemy position towards you so your scent is carried away from them.

Conceal the size of your force - The number of cats in your battle patrols can be hidden to confuse the enemy from a distance. Cats packed tightly together will appear as a small attacking force, encouraging the enemy to be overconfident and make poor strategic decisions. Alternatively, if cats are spread out in single file, they will look like a solid border of warriors, which will seem impenetrable to an advancing enemy.

Attack from both ends of the enemy first - If both ends of the enemy line are defeated, the cats in the center of the line will have to fight on two fronts. Even if they aren’t outnumbered, they will be outflanked, vulnerable, and in disarray.

Keep fresh warriors in reserve - Always have adequate reserves of fresh, fit warriors behind the battle line. They will be able to replace injured warriors, launch a separate attack if the enemy tries to encircle your forces, or fend off a surprise enemy from the rear. If the battle is in your favor, finish it by sending your reserve warriors behind the enemy line to surround them and demand surrender.

Feigned retreat and ambush - A group of strong cats charges at the enemy, screeching, then turns and withdraws. Repeat this until the infuriated enemy finally breaks it’s line and gives chase. Then the trap is sprung. Other warriors positioned in rabbit holes and other dips in the ground-out of the enemy’s line of sight will attack as soon as your opponents’ have gone past, The enemy will be forced to stop and turn around to fight the unexpected threat, and as they do, the retreating cats must turn and charge back at them with full speed. The enemy is caught between two bodies of attacking cats and will quickly surrender.


Double-Front-Paw - Splashes water into the face of the enemy.

Underwater Leg Sweep (Front or Hind) - The opponent will not see it coming under the water and so won’t have a chance to brace himself before losing his balance.

Push-Down and Release - Almost all cats panic if they are submerged. This move can be used to secure a decisive victory, because it’s most likely to make the opponent surrender.

Underwater Clinch - This uses the warrior’s weight to hold the opponent below the surface, with a firm grip that enables the warrior to bring their enemy sputtering back to the surface before forcing them under again.

Tail Splash - Temporarily blinds opponent by flicking water in their eyes.

Underwater Push-Off - Crouching and erupting out of the water into the opponent, using surprise and impact to knock him off balance.

Sandpaw Splash - Using noise of water splashed at a distance to create a decoy, leaving opportunity for a surprise attack.


The Sky-Crusher - Landing with all four feet on top of an opponent, flattening them like a leaf.

The Flick-Over - Landing with front paws outstretched to sweep the opponent off their feet and roll them onto their back.

The Kick - Kicking down hard as the warrior nears the ground, then using momentum from landing to spring away before the opponent can retaliate.

The Slice - Dropping down with claws unsheathed for maximum injury.

The Branch Swing - Holding onto the branch with front claws and swinging hind legs into the opponent’s face.

The Reverse Branch Swing - Holding onto the branch with back claws and striking with front legs through the swing.

The Trunk Swing - Sliding down the trunk and springing off at head height, using hind legs to push off and clear opponents (good if tree is surrounded).

The Reverse Climb - Climbing backward up the trunk as the opponent advances to gain advantage of height; often followed by the trunk swing move.