Players arrange their 40 pieces in a 4x10 configuration at either end of the board. The average game has 381 moves, The number of legal positions is 10 115, The number of possible games is 10 535. In the event that a player has no movable pieces, the opponent is the winner. They are shown as lakes on the battlefield and serve as choke points to make frontal assaults less direct.
Two zones in the middle of the board, each 2x2, cannot be entered by either player's pieces at any time. A piece may not move onto a square already occupied unless it attacks. If the engaging pieces are of equal rank, both are removed. Each player moves one piece per turn, when the player wants to attack they move their piece onto a square occupied by an opposing piece, both players reveal their piece's rank the weaker piece (there are exceptions see below) is removed from the board.
The ranks are printed on one side only and placed so that the players cannot identify the opponent's pieces. Typically, one player uses red pieces, and the other uses blue pieces. The object of the game is to capture the opponent's flag or cause a surrender.