Learn Latrunculi
Review the goal through a picture story, then work through the chapters you need one at a time.
An ancient Roman game for two players where you move pieces orthogonally and capture by sandwiching the opponent's pieces between two of your own, winning by eliminating all of the opponent's pieces or leaving them unable to move.
The stars of this game
Explore all 2 pieces, cards, tiles, and adopted roles in order. Pause autoplay or choose any item from the list.
Black soldier
Skills and characteristicsMoves orthogonally and captures a white soldier by surrounding it.
Learning
Orthogonal Movement and Custodian Capture
Learn Orthogonal Sliding, Custodian Capture, and Edge Captures
Move orthogonally and capture an opposing piece by enclosing it between two of your pieces or between a piece and the board edge.
- Article Eliminate All Opposing Pieces or Leave Them Unable to Move
- Pattern Move straight up, down, left, or right.
- Position puzzle Block and capture with two pieces
- Move sequence Use the Board's Edges and Corners
- Move sequence Win by wiping out or blocking the opponent
Use one fixed reconstructed ruleset and build formations through flanking captures, rescues, and encirclement.
- Article Avoid leaving a lone piece and balance surrounding with rescue
- Article Differences Between the Chosen Reconstruction and Other Rulesets
- Article Read Flanking Captures and Rescues Together
- Article Surrounding, formations, and using the edge
Latrunculi Basics
Choose a step in the inline tutorial below to review the flow.
Movement and captures
Open it only when you need to check something.
Custodial capture and blockade
Standard human-readable notation
a7-a5
The upper-left square is A1.
Soldier
Move orthogonally Under the adopted rules, pieces move vertically or horizontally along the lines.Custodial capture
Surround vertically or horizontally Capture an opposing piece by surrounding it on both sides with your pieces.Wall
Block with the edge or allied pieces Use the board edge and allied placement to eliminate escape routes.Winner
Blockade a key piece or group Depending on the adopted rules, aim to leave the opponent unable to move.Custodial capture
- Surround an opposing piece on both sides with your pieces to capture it.
- Confirm that the surround is on a vertical or horizontal line, not a diagonal.
Adopted rules
- Because Latrunculi is a reconstructed game, there are multiple theories about its board size and victory conditions.
- QuickGamesArena uses the same adopted rules described in the site's tutorial.
Next step
Choose after the tutorialOnce you are comfortable moving pieces, review anything that was unclear or practice your decisions with a short problem.