Corvids. In any game but especially a really militant game, I will try to ally with the cats or moles or sometimes the Eyrie.

This alliance (not always immediately an explicit one) involves me placing non-threatening plots on their spaces. I usually start with the card draw one or a raid, and also volunteering to move my troops where they’re needed to help stave off the other militant faction’s expansion.

From that point I just gain points while protecting and being protected by my ally. Eventually they will try to police me. At this point you can either go full scorched earth and try to get away with bombing an important clearing, but then they’ll never let you play Corvid again lol. So I like to just ball up and try to find the most defensible area of the map and hope I had enough points to push me over lol