First Strike
The First Strike is important as it decides who will be the lead player, or Player 1. Each player selects one of their Magni to strike first (without knowledge of the other player's pick). The Magni with the highest central value is the winner, and becomes Player 1. The winning Magni is placed in the center of the board, and the losing Magni is placed on the hex directly north of this point. It is then Player 1's turn.
No point is awarded for the skirmish between these two Magni.
If the central attack strengths are equal, no one wins the First Strike and players must choose again and the process is repeated until a dominant starting Magni is selected.
Pro tip: The winner of the First Strike will end up using up all 10 Magni, while the loser only needs to use 9. You could go into a battle with the intentions to lose the First Strike with a weaker Magni (as it doesn't produce a point) and have stronger team of 8 Magni to fight the rest of the battle.