Units featured in the game are based on those from the "Advance Wars" series, though "Battalion Wars" features unique units, including: light and heavy recon units; a wider variety of infantry units that cover basic riflemen, to units specialised against particular units (i.e. anti-air), and long-range mortar companies; "battlestation" tanks; and "stratodestroyer" aircraft. Units function similarly to their counterparts in "Advance Wars", though with some differences. Infantry units can use cover to reduce the threat of enemy fire, can man mounted gun emplacements, and can be healed individually by collecting first aid kits dropped by eliminated enemy infantry. Furthermore, some objectives require players to take control of certain points (represented as flags), which only infantry can capture. Vehicle and air units, along with their primary weapons and abilities, have manned machine guns that work autonomously against enemy units, and can be repaired by picking up jerry cans dropped by destroyed enemy vehicles. With the exception of ground vehicles, players gain additional controls when taking full control of an infantry unit, allowing them to jump over obstacles and dodge enemy fire by rolling to the side, while taking control of an air unit allows them to adjust its altitude in order to avoid enemy fire.