Age of War is a tower-defense game set in five distinct ages. The player must defend and upgrade their base, weapons and ground units while attempting to evolve from the Stone Age through a yet-unknown Future.
The player starts by choosing a difficulty level (Normal, Harder or Impossible). They initially receive a cave, basic stone weapons and barely-dressed men carrying slingshots and clubs. Their primary objective is to prevent damage to their home base and destroy the enemy's base.
If the other troops manage to hit the player's base, it loses damage points. The game doesn't permit any restoration of the base or points. The player also kills enemy units to earn money to perform weapon and unit upgrades and raise enough XP to evolve to the next age. For example, they might add new turrets or more complex ground troops like a knight on horseback or a tank.
Art of War only supplies one spot for the tower turret or similar weapon per section of the base. As a result, the player must add new tower levels to place turrets or replace old turrets with new ones in preexisting spots. That said, the player also receives a special attack that hits the entire region from above. It might rain down meteors, flaming arrows, airplane bombs or a space laser.