GAME OBJECTIVE
Battles of the War of 1812 is a tactical wargame for two players. One player commands the American forces and the other the British forces. The objective varies depending on the scenario (Lundy's Lane or North Point), but generally involves inflicting a certain number of casualties on the enemy army, forcing it to retreat, or capturing and holding key strategic objectives on the map within the end of the allotted turns.

QUICK SETUP
1. **Choose the Scenario**: Decide whether to play the Battle of Lundy's Lane or North Point and place the corresponding map in the center of the table.
2. **Deployment**: Place units (blocks or counters) on the starting hexes indicated by the scenario. Each unit represents infantry, cavalry, or artillery with specific strength and movement values.
3. **Deck and Resources**: Each player receives their own deck of cards or set of orders and starting command tokens. The Morale and Turn tracks are set to their starting positions.

SHIFT FLOW
The game takes place in a series of rounds, divided into structured phases:

**1. Command Phase**
Players determine how many units they can activate this turn. This can be done by rolling command dice or by playing specific cards from their hand that grant activation points.

**2. Movement Phase**
Activate units to move them across the map. Terrain (forests, roads, hills) affects movement costs.
- **Infantry**: Standard movement, can enter difficult terrain.
- **Cavalry**: Fast in open field but limited in woods.
- **Artillery**: Slow but devastating from a distance.

**3. Combat Phase**
Adjacent units (or ranged for artillery) engage the enemy.
- The attacking player rolls a number of dice equal to the unit's strength.
- Each result that exceeds the target's defense threshold deals a hit.
- Hits reduce the enemy unit's strength (often by rotating the block or flipping the token) or force it to retreat.

**4. Reorganization Phase**
Players may attempt to recover the morale of shaken units or reorganize defensive lines if the scenario rules allow it.

END OF THE GAME
The game ends immediately if:
- An army's **Morale** drops to zero (the army routs).
- A player achieves the **Automatic Win** conditions of the scenario (e.g. capturing a key point).
- At the end of the last turn, Victory Points are calculated based on losses inflicted and objectives controlled to determine the winner.