Army Ants is a strategic card game for two players. Capture your opponent’s Queen ant first to win this game! Find the video tutorial and written explanation for how to play Army Ants below.
Army Ants Tutorial
Needed
38 playing cards (aces up to the 9s in each suit, one black queen, and one red queen); two players
Setup
One player will control the red cards; the other player will control the black cards.
Players will shuffle their cards, and deal them face up in rows of five cards. The last row will have an open space in the middle.
Army Ants Setup
Objective
The object of the game is to capture the opponent’s queen. A card is captured by a higher ranking card, with any card being able to capture the queen. Cards can move around in four ways.
A swap move is made by swapping two adjacent cards.
A march move is made by moving one or more cards in a horizontal or vertical line.
A move out move is made by moving one card horizontally or vertically or both through open spaces.
An attack move is made by overtaking an opponent’s card with an equal or lesser ranking. The attacked card is removed from the game.
Game Play
The game begins with each player making five moves on their side of the battlefield.
The first five moves can only be a march move or a swap move.
The red player will go first.
After each player makes five moves, the battle begins. Now, players can make a move out or attack move, in addition to the march and swap moves.
Win
The first player to capture the opponent’s queen wins the game. Any card rank can capture the queen.
Rules
An attack move can be made on a card of equal rank. When done, both cards are eliminated from the game.
The queen cannot make an attack move. Any card can attack the queen.
A card can never move diagonally, and a card can never jump another card.
If a player’s queen is dealt into the first row, the player can choose to move the queen to the open space in the back row, instead of making five beginning moves.