Milito Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• The Cards
  • Order of Battle Cards
  • Unit Cards
  • Unit Type Clarifications
  • Leader Cards
  • Terrain Cards
• Classic Milito Matchups
• Deck Management
• Game Setup
• Playing Milito
  • Turn Sequence
  • Phase 1: Victory Check
  • Phase 2: Advance
  • Phase 3: Flank Attacks
  • Phase 4: Player Actions
    • Action: Place Unit
    • Action: Attack
      • Elephant Attack
  • Phase 5: Draw Cards
• Combat Results Table
• Winning Milito

Components

• 1 Terrain deck of 9 cards
  • 6 Plains
  • 1 Hill
  • 1 Rough Ground
  • 1 Forest
• 7 Army decks of 31 cards each
  • 1 Achaemenid Persian Army
  • 1 Alexandrian Macedonian Army
  • 1 Ancient British Army
  • 1 Carthaginian Army
  • 1 Republican Roman Army
  • 2 Imperial Roman Armies (1 KS Army)
• 8 Mercenary Cards (KS)
• 1 Roman Coin (replica) (KS)
• 1 Rulebook

The Cards

In Milito there are four types of cards: Order of Battle cards, Unit cards, Leader cards, and Terrain cards.

Order of Battle Cards

Each army has an Order of Battle card that shows the army's composition (how many cards of each type are in the army's deck). These are not used during play.

Unit Cards

Each army has 22 Unit cards. Each unit type in an army is based on its historical equivalent. Units include the following information:

• Unit Type (1): indicates the unit the card represents; for example, Light Infantry or Elephants.
• Speed (2): the higher this value, the more maneuverable the unit.
• Attack Strength (3): this value is used when the unit is attacking.
• Defense Strength (4): this value is used when the unit is defending.
• Deployment Penalty (5): indicates the number of cards you must discard from your hand to place the unit in a battlefield column.
• Flank Penalty (6): indicates that you must discard an additional card from your hand to place the unit in a flank column.
• Combine Ability (7): indicates that the unit may be placed alongside any other unit.
• Attack Modifiers (8): these modifiers apply when the unit attacks units of the indicated type.
• Defense Modifiers (9): these modifiers apply when the unit defends against units of the indicated type.

Unit Type Clarifications

• Archers and Slingers are not Light Infantry.
• Companions are Cavalry, but they are not Light, Medium, or Heavy Cavalry.
• Elephants and War Chariots are not Cavalry.
• Roman Imperial Auxiliary Infantry is not Medium Infantry.
• Warband Medium Infantry is Medium Infantry.

Leader Cards

Each army has eight Leader cards. Leaders have the following values:

• Combat Value (1): if the Leader card is played in combat as a Bonus Card, this value is added to the attack or defense strength of your units involved.
• Place Units Ability (2): if the Leader card is played to place units, it counts as that many cards toward the placement cost.
• Special Effect (3): if there is text at the bottom of the Leader card, it describes a Special Effect. This effect must always be applied whenever possible, regardless of the reason the card is played.

There are two important points to remember about Leader cards:

• Leaders are always discarded, never destroyed.
• Leaders cannot be played to a column; they can only be played from your hand to place units or as a Bonus Card in combat.

Terrain Cards

Terrain cards are placed to represent the battlefield on which the battle is fought. There are four types of Terrain: Plains, Hill, Rough Ground, and Forest. The special rules for each Terrain type are noted on the card.

Each Terrain card has an edge marked "Control." When a player controls a column, the "Control" edge of the Terrain card is turned to point toward that player.

The Terrain types are:

• Plains: has no effect on the game.
• Hill: The defender gets a +1 modifier if they already control the column. If a player controls a Hill column and has one or more Archer units deployed there, they get +1 for each Archer unit in this column and in any adjacent column, both attacking and defending; this is added to all other combat or supporting-unit modifiers.
• Rough Ground: When deploying a unit to this column, you must discard an additional card from your hand.
• Forest: All units except Auxiliary Infantry, Medium Infantry, and Light Infantry suffer a -2 when attacking and defending in this column. Light Infantry gets a +1 modifier when attacking and defending in this column.

Classic Milito Matchups

Any two Milito armies can be chosen to fight one another. However, the following armies are well matched from a historical point of view:

• Carthaginian and Republican Roman
• Achaemenid Persian and Alexandrian Macedonian
• Imperial Roman and Ancient British

Deck Management

As the game progresses, players will place cards in a discard pile and a destroyed pile:

• If a card is "discarded," it is placed in the discard pile, which will be reshuffled and reused during the game.
• If a card is "destroyed," it is removed from the game permanently.
• Remember that Leader cards are always discarded, never destroyed.

Each player must create their own discard and destroyed piles next to their draw pile. Both piles are placed face up and may be consulted at any time, but only by the owner of the pile. If a player needs to draw a card and their draw pile has run out, they shuffle their discard pile to create a new draw pile.

Game Setup

Each player chooses an army and takes the corresponding deck of cards. Remove the "Order of Battle" card from each deck, to use as a reference during the game, and shuffle the remaining cards to form a face-down draw pile. Draw nine cards from this deck to form your starting hand.

Determine who will be the first player by flipping a coin.

We recommend the classic clash between the Republican Roman and Carthaginian Armies for your first game of Milito.

The battlefield consists of five columns, with a Terrain card in each. To set up the battlefield, shuffle the Terrain cards and place them face down to form a deck. Draw five Terrain cards and place them in a row in the center of the play area, sideways, so that the edge marked "Control" does not point toward either player. Any card that is not "Plains" must be placed on the flanks; it may be necessary to place a non-"Plains" card in a column one space in from a flank. The remaining columns should be filled with "Plains" cards. The two columns at the ends are called "Flanks" or "Flank Columns" in the rules.

Playing Milito

Turn Sequence

Milito is played over an indeterminate number of turns. Players take turns, starting with the first player. Play continues until a player meets the victory condition of controlling 3 columns at the start of their turn.

During a player's turn, they must complete each of the phases listed below, in the order given. Each phase must be completed before moving on to the next:

• Phase 1: Victory Check
• Phase 2: Advance
• Phase 3: Flank Attacks
• Phase 4: Player Actions
• Phase 5: Draw Cards

Play continues until a player wins the game.

Phase 1: Victory Check

If the active player controls three or more columns, they win the game immediately.

The orientation of the Terrain card in a column indicates who controls it: the "Control" edge of the Terrain card is placed so that it points toward the player who controls it. If neither player controls a column, the Terrain card is placed sideways, in the Neutral position.

Phase 2: Advance

The active player takes control of all columns in which they have unopposed units (that is, the opponent has no units in that column). Turn the Terrain card so that the "Control" edge points toward the active player.

Phase 3: Flank Attacks

Flank Attacks are resolved before the player's other actions. The opponent's units can be the target of a Flank Attack if all of the following conditions are met:

1. The active player has one or more units in the column they wish to attack.
2. The active player has one or more unopposed units in an adjacent column (the "Flanking Column").
3. The column adjacent to the Flanking Column does not contain enemy units, or lies beyond the edge of the battlefield.

These conditions must be met at the start of the phase; a Flank Attack cannot be made if the conditions are only met as a result of a successful Flank Attack in another column.

The attacker must decide whether to attack from the opposing column or from the Flanking Column. Once the Flank Attack is declared, it is resolved according to the rules described in the "Action: Attack" section, with an additional bonus of a +2 combat strength modifier to reflect the effectiveness of a Flank Attack.

Phase 4: Player Actions

The active player may now take as many actions as they wish, until they can no longer take actions or decide to pass (ending their Player Actions phase). The available actions are:

• Place Unit
• Attack

These actions can be taken in any order and repeated as many times as desired. For example, a player may place a unit, attack, place two units, then make more attacks, and so on.

Action: Place Unit

The active player places one or more units from their hand into one or more of the five battlefield columns, on their side of the Terrain cards. After placing the units, they must pay any associated cost indicated on the column's Terrain card or on the Unit card being played:

• If the unit is placed in a column containing Rough Ground, you must discard an additional card.
• If the unit being placed shows a deployment penalty on its card, you must discard the indicated number of cards.
• If the unit being placed shows a flank penalty on its card and you are placing it in a Flank Column, you must discard the indicated number of cards.

These costs are cumulative: a unit with a deployment penalty of 1 and a flank penalty of 1 costs two cards to place in a flank column. If that flank column is also Rough Ground, the cost would be three cards.

Discard any cards from your hand to pay the required cost. Leader cards may be discarded, counting as the number of cards indicated in the Leader card's "Place Unit" Ability. Leaders cannot be placed in columns; they are only used to pay for placing other units and in combat.

A player may have up to two units in a column. Normally, both units must be of the same type. However, a unit with the "Combine" ability may share a column with any unit. The order of units in a column is not important.

Before placing units in a column, the active player may discard any of their units already in that column. These are placed in the active player's discard pile.

Action: Attack

The active player declares the column they wish to attack. The attacked column must contain units from both sides. An attack is resolved in the following order:

1. If either player has more than one type of unit in the column, they must declare which unit will fight and which will act as support. The active player announces first.
2. The attacker (active player) must choose a card from their hand or draw the top card of their draw pile. This card is called the "Bonus Card" and remains hidden from the defender for now.
3. The defender now has the option to withdraw all of their units from the column. They may only do so if all of their units in the column have a "Speed" value higher than the highest "Speed" value among the attacking units. See the Combat Results Table for the outcome of a withdrawal.
4. If the defender does not withdraw their units, they have the option to play a Bonus Card, either by selecting one from their hand or drawing the top card of their draw pile. Each player then reveals their Bonus Card and calculates their final combat strength as follows:
   • Unit Attack/Defense Strength: take the "Attack" value of your combat unit if you are the attacker, and the "Defense" value of your combat unit if you are the defender.
   • Unit Combat Modifiers: apply all applicable modifiers for the combat units (Attack Modifiers for the attacker and Defense Modifiers for the defender).
   • Supporting Unit: get a +1 modifier if you have a supporting unit. The "Attack/Defense" value and Unit Combat Modifiers of the supporting unit are not used.
   • Bonus Card: apply the "Combat" value of your Bonus Card if it is a Leader. A Bonus Card that is not a Leader has a value of zero.
   • Terrain Modifiers: apply any modifier indicated on the column's Terrain card (this applies only to Hill and Forest).
   • Leader Special Effect: apply any applicable modifier shown in the "Special Effect" of the Leader card.
5. The player with the higher combat strength is the winner. See the Combat Results Table for the outcome of the combat.

There are two important rules to remember during combat:

• Attack Modifiers are used only when attacking, and Defense Modifiers are used only when defending. They have no effect at any other time.
• Modifiers on a unit card played as support in combat have no effect: a supporting card grants only a +1 modifier in total.

Elephant Attack

If a player has one or more Elephant units destroyed, they must draw a card from the top of their deck for each Elephant unit lost. These cards are also destroyed. This penalty does not apply if the Elephants are discarded rather than destroyed.

Phase 5: Draw Cards

The active player draws three cards from their draw pile and adds them to their hand if they have not yet shuffled their discard pile, and four cards after the first reshuffle.

The active player may not have more than nine cards in hand at the end of their turn. This may mean they have to draw fewer than three or four cards.

Combat Results Table

Result	Units	Column Status
Defender Withdraws	Defender's units are discarded. Attacker's units remain in the column. Attacker's Bonus Card is discarded.	If the Attacker already has Control, there is no change in status. Otherwise, it becomes Neutral.
Defender Wins	Defender's units remain in the column. Attacker's units are destroyed. All Bonus Cards are discarded.	If the Defender already has Control, there is no change in status. Otherwise, it becomes Neutral.
Tie	All cards are discarded.	Neutral position.
Attacker Wins	Defender's units are destroyed. Attacker's units remain in the column. All Bonus Cards are discarded.	The Attacker gains Control.

Winning Milito

The game ends when the active player controls three or more columns at the very start of their turn (Phase 1). The active player wins the game.