Battle Line

To prepare a game of Battle Line, arrange the nine battle flag tokens in a straight row between the two players. Shuffle the troop card deck, consisting of numbered cards from one to ten in six distinct colors, and place it at one end of the line. Shuffle the tactics card deck and place it at the other end. Deal seven troop cards from the troop deck to each player as their starting hand, leaving the remaining cards nearby to form draw piles for both types of cards.

The ultimate goal of Battle Line is to win the war by capturing control of the battlefield. A player achieves victory by successfully claiming either any five of the nine available flags or a special grouping of three adjacent flags along the line.

Players take alternating turns starting with the non-dealing player. During your turn, you must play one troop or tactics card from your hand face up onto your side of any unclaimed flag, provided you have not exceeded the three-card limit for that position. Immediately after playing your card, you must draw a replacement card from either the troop deck or the tactics deck to replenish your hand back to its maximum capacity.

At the end of your turn before drawing, you may claim a flag if your three-card formation on that flag is stronger than your opponent's. Formations are evaluated like poker hands: a wedge of three consecutive numbers in the same color is the strongest, followed by three of a kind, a color flush, a straight sequence regardless of color, and finally a sum total. If formations tie, the higher total sum wins, and if sums tie, the player who completed their formation first claims the flag.

The game concludes instantly whenever a single player successfully captures five individual flags or secures three flags that are directly next to one another. That player is immediately declared the winner of the battle.