Tooth and Tail is a real-time strategy game about anthropomorphic animals. Before each match, you choose a commander from four factions and six units from a pool of twenty. You then use these units to build farms, lookouts and gather resources.

The game is set during a time of severe food shortages, resulting in the uprising of political parties with differing ideologies regarding the acquisition of food. The goal is to destroy the enemy's resources by building structures and creating units.

Creating warrens enables you to produce units. Creating campfires allows you to expand your territory. While doing this you are fighting with enemy forces in real time. This creates a war of attack and defence that can quickly swing either way.

You control your units with your commander rather than directly. This simplifies the controls and adds greater risk to advance, as you need to put your commander at the front of your army to move them forward. It also grants your units some autonomy as they will respond to enemies they spot.

Along with the single-player campaign adventure and multiplayer mode, there is an editor so you can also create your own battle maps.