• Men of the Line Beta

  There is nothing in the world more powerful than 100,000 men standing in a line shooting the same target.

  There is nothing in the world more difficult than getting 100,000 men to stand in a line and shoot the same target.

  Gameplay

  Men of the Line is a pocket real-time strategy game based on musket line warfare. As a Colonel, deploy and lead your battalions across the lanes, align them in formations, and execute daring ploys.

  Other terms that describe this game include "lane pusher." Think classic real-time strategy mods like Defense of the Ancients or its descendant, League of Legends, but without the hero.

  The in-game resource economy is easy to learn, but mastering it requires you to master the resource of your attention. Position units, set up ambushes, and manage assaults without letting your opponent sneak in a rear assault when you're not looking.

  The core of the game is mounting defenses, staging attacks, and managing assaults by building formations. Infantry pour massive firepower into the enemy when standing in a line, but if you mismanage their maneuvers, units behind them won't be able to contribute to the fight. Group units together to give orders to all at once, and wield dozens of units as a hammer against your opponent.

  Bolster your line's discipline and keep your troops in the fight with officers. Snipe officers with skirmishers. Catch skirmishers and break lines with cavalry. Punish hesitant opponents with artillery. Combine maneuvers to maximize effectiveness.

  It could be described as a competitive strategy puzzle game. The flow state feels like Candy Crush, but violent on a historical level.

  You can play right now, for free! No account is needed for free games. Play against bots, train against bots and players, and play randomly chosen opponents for free. Competitive ranked matchmaking and custom games (play with your friends) cost 1 ticket.

  Community

  Many things may feel broken or "janky." If you encounter a bug, find something difficult or confusing, or have ideas about the experience, click the "Suggest" button at the top. Good feedback will be rewarded with tickets.

  The Manual is a "wiki" repository about the rules of the game. Much of it is populated automatically, so it's straightforward, boring, and sometimes wrong. Contribute by editing. Good edits will be rewarded with tickets.

  All purchased tickets contribute toward the War Effort when spent. You may select where your purchase's proceeds go, and where the developer's time is invested.

  

News

• 2026-10-19

  feature

  Order To

  Charge or Fall Back to a point on the lane, then Halt. Hold while dragging to place unit silhouettes where they will stop; Engineers see enemy destinations as empty boxes.

  • Touch a unit, drag along the lane, then keep holding until silhouettes of those units appear where they will Halt. Release at the point you want: Charge toward a point ahead, or Fall Back (Retreat in melee) toward a point behind. The line keeps that order until it reaches the spot, then Halts.
  • A quick swipe still Charges or Falls Back as before. Hold still without dragging still solo-selects. Right-click drag shows the silhouettes immediately.
  • Broken units cannot take a destination; Recall still Falls Back indefinitely after rallying. Breaking, melee Halt rules, and other automatic order changes clear that unit's destination.
  • Engineers reveal an enemy's destination as an empty box sized to that line when that enemy or its destination is in the same lane within twice the Engineer officer aura, or three times that range while on a hill or peak.

• 2026-10-15

  feature

  Bottom Lane Towns

  Land no longer comes from a bottom middle line. Capture towns with a shared HP gauge, gather land into each town's counter, and tap to claim land or an upgrade.

  • The bottom lane no longer has a middle line. Push the top middle line for gold; land comes from towns you control.
  • Towns capture on a white gauge: living, non-broken units within 50 paces along the lane (any row) contest it. Full exclusive presence takes about 10 seconds. Empty points drain slowly; equal HP stalls the gauge.
  • While you own a town and it is not contested, it gathers 2 land per second into the number above it. Your colored arc shows progress toward the next upgrade cost. Opponents cannot see your town land progress.
  • Tap an owned town (or Shift+1–5) to take the counter as land, or wait until it reaches the upgrade cost and tap to buy that rank. Contested towns pause gathering and cannot be claimed until the white capture gauge drains.
  • The scoreboard still shows your land stockpile, but not land per second. Towns sit just inside the arc so they are easier to tap.

• 2026-10-13

  feature

  Recruitment Office

  Invite friends with your personal referral link. They earn promotional tickets when they verify and make a first qualifying purchase; you earn matching pending rewards after a short hold.

  • Open Recruitment Office on your profile to copy your permanent referral link.
  • New players who sign up with your link get 5 tickets when they verify their account and another 5 on their first purchase of $5 or more.
  • You receive 5 tickets for each of those milestones after a short verification hold (held longer or reviewed if fraud checks flag the signup).
  • Formbar-linked accounts are outside this program (Digipog tickets stay on Formbar).
  • Share the link, not codes from other players — each new account can only have one referrer.

• 2026-10-12

  feature

  Keyboard, Gamepad, and Match HUD

  Play a match from keyboard or Xbox-layout gamepad, with a bottom-left HUD for settings, sound, chat, and pause. Full controls are in the Controls wiki.

  • Bottom-left HUD: Settings, sound (cycles sound on → music muted → all muted; icon follows SFX), chat when enabled, and pause (always shown in human matches). Pause is no longer in the Settings menu.
  • 1–5 select buy slots. With a slot selected and no unit selected, W buys top, S buys bottom, A or D step across buy buttons. Tab / Shift+Tab (LB / RB) cycle the unit version. Q buys the next bank. Shift+1–5 toggles town research; Ctrl+1–5 opens unit info.
  • Ctrl+Tab cycles top lane front → bottom lane front → buy bar (empty lanes skipped). While telescoped, it zooms to that lane/selection, or exits overview on the buy bar. Tab / Shift+Tab flip a line’s main selection to the opposite end, then step lines (or cycle buy variants when a buy slot is selected).
  • WASD match swipe orders on a selected unit. Arrow keys match the right stick: ↑/↓ telescope top/bottom (opposite exits overview); ←/→ scroll while zoomed. E / gamepad X: short release toggles Halt / Advance; long-press solo-selects (same as a unit click). Enter opens or sends chat. P pauses. M mutes all sound; Shift+M toggles music only.
  • F toggles browser fullscreen (website). Escape closes menus, then exits fullscreen, then deselects, then opens Settings. Chrome may need fullscreen for Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+1–5 to reach the game.
  • Gamepad (Xbox): D-pad = WASD (on buy: left/right step slots); A = Ctrl+Tab; B = Escape; X = short release Halt/Advance, long-press solo-select (or confirm an aimed tooltip); Y = bank; Start = pause; Select = chat; LB/RB = Tab browsing (on buy: cycle variants).
  • Left stick click cycles mute modes; tilt aims tooltips on a selected unit or buy slot (Tooltips on)—X issues the highlighted action, release cancels. Right stick click = fullscreen; up/down opens telescope on top/bottom (opposite direction returns to overview); left/right scrolls along the lane when zoomed.
  • Entering telescope selects that lane (keeps an in-lane selection or takes the front line; clears buy and other-lane picks) and centers on it. While zoomed, Tab only cycles units visible in the telescope. LT/RT: on the bottom lane, cycle owned towns / toggle the nearest owned town on screen; on the top lane, center on your fort / the enemy fort.

• 2026-10-10

  Beta Updates

  A multitude of upgrades have been made. The most important to players are highlighted here.

  • War Effort. Decide how your tickets are spent when you play games
  • Guerillas now target unit most likely to break.
  • New ranking system. Earn ranks by raising your MMR.
  • New Discord Bot
  • Unit name changes
  • Post-match stat screen

• 2026-10-05

  Cavalry, Skirmishers, and Engineer Balance

  Engineers now see farther while on hills and peaks to better counter "turtling" behind your fort. Cavalry works better in packs, and gold now reflects that. Militiamen are now a little more hardy. Rifles were broken in melee but nobody knew because they were too expensive. Skirmishers now have reduced ranged to encourage them being played in front of the line instead of behind.

  • Engineer aura multiplier on hill/peak added (3).
  • Dragoon ranged damage decreased from 15 to 10.
  • Dragoon, Lancer, Engineer gold cost decreased from 300 to 200.
  • Field Gun melee damage decreased from 10 to 5.
  • Hussar gold cost increased from 150 to 200.
  • Militiamen fatigue pool increased from 50 to 60.
  • Militiamen melee damage increased from 5 to 8.
  • Militiamen ranged damage increased from 5 to 8.
  • Rifles gold cost decreased from 200 to 150.
  • Rifles ranged damage decreased from 20 to 15.
  • Rifles seconds between melee hits decreased from 2 to 1.5.
  • Rifles seconds between shots increased from 1.5 to 2.
  • Skirmisher melee damage decreased from 7 to 6.
  • Skirmisher ranged damage decreased from 7 to 6.
  • Skirmisher shooting range decreased from 220 to 200.

• 2026-10-04

  Light Alternate Units

  Each buy type now has a second, light alternate. Swipe a buy button to cycle the standard unit, the yellow elite, and the new white light variant. Light alternates cost gold plus 10% of that gold price in land (elites still cost 20%).

  • Militiamen (Troop): cheap line infantry with a Troop line bonus, but less damage, endurance, and discipline.
  • Guerillas (Skirmish): hidden until they fire or close in; they are not slowed by woods and stay stealthed unless you occupy their woods, get within 50 paces, or they shot in the last second.
  • Hussar (Dragoon): ignore terrain slow (still blocked by peaks) and gain a melee pack bonus for every other friendly Hussar in melee reach. Selected-unit info shows Pack +% the same way it shows Line +%.
  • Horse Guns (Cannon): faster field guns with less range and punch. They still cannot cross rivers unless an Engineer pontoons them.
  • Engineer (Officer): does not restore the line. Within 60 paces it opens LOS through terrain, pontoons overlapping rivers so artillery can cross, and while on a hill shares that hill's shooting-range bonus with nearby friends.

• 2026-10-04

  Unit Price Balance

  Increased prices on units to increase mass tax effect and reduce spam late game causing games to drag out.

  • Dragoon, Officer gold cost increased from 200 to 300.
  • Field Gun gold cost increased from 300 to 400.
  • Grenadier gold cost increased from 150 to 200.
  • Howitzer, Color Guard gold cost increased from 400 to 500.
  • Lancer gold cost increased from 250 to 300.
  • Troop gold cost increased from 100 to 150.

• 2026-10-03

  Terrain and Line of Sight

  Terrain such as hills, woods, rivers, forts, and bridges now hide or reveal units depending on where yours are. You can’t see or shoot at enemies hiding in woods unless you’re in the same woods. Some features, like forts and hills, make units easier or harder to see and hit, and also affect how far you can shoot or move. Fog clears as your troops move forward. It’s now much easier to tell which enemies you can see and target.

  • Terrain features now hide and reveal units more realistically—hills, woods, and forts block your view and fog the map, unless one of your units has advanced past them.
  • You can only see enemies that your own units could actually spot; the fog of war on the map now matches what you’d expect.
  • Units hiding behind their own fort get cover, and some terrain makes shooting easier or harder.
  • Different terrain changes how fast units can move depending on their type.
  • There are improvements to tooltips and training mode to help you learn these changes.

• 2026-09-30

  Training Mode and Tooltips

  New features have been added to help new players get oriented.

  • Can start a training mode game against a bot or other random player. Only the bottom lane is active, and the game is slowed down.
  • Tooltips now show you the anticipated action when clicking/touching an object in the game.

• 2026-09-29

  3D Client and Speed Tweaks

  Play in 3D!

  • Choose the 3D client when creating or joining a game.
  • Game speed is now 2/3 the original speed. This should allow players to spend more time arranging their units and managin their economy.

• 2026-09-29

  Unit, Unit Controls, and Unit Icons Rework

  Unit names and controls have been updated to reflect the new unit types.

  • Map physics have changed from a 2D spave to a 1D lane with rows.
  • Swipe a unit into a matching unit type to Reform the line. Swiping to change lanes moves a whole line, but you may now only move one lane at a time.
  • Unit names have been updated and icons have been added to buy buttons so you know what they are.
  • Fields Guns (formerly Cannons), now bounce through units they hit into units behind them in the same row
  • Color Guard now restores causalties instead of boosting speed and attack speed.
  • Keeps shoot less, but not greatly increase health and fatigue recovery, unless the enemy takes your fort!
  • All units now Charge and Fall Back through all friendly units. All units collide normally otherwise.

• 2026-09-26

  Grand Strategy

  Per-lane fire priorities: Bastion, Attrition, and Terror.

  • Two strategy buttons sit under the buy row, one for each lane. Click or swipe right to cycle Bastion → Attrition → Terror; swipe left to go back.
  • Bastion aims at the closest eligible target (the previous default).
  • Attrition aims at the healthiest eligible target (hp% − fatigue%).
  • Terror aims at the weakest eligible target.
  • Strategy only reorders targets inside the usual engagement and shoot ranges. Halt and lined volleys still use full range; advancing units still open at engage range.
  • Officer rules are unchanged: skirmishers may snipe officers; other units skip them while another target is in full shooting range.
  • Howitzers still fire closest per row and ignore lane strategy. Keep guns follow the top lane strategy.

• 2026-09-26

  Upkeep, Town Research & Grenadiers

  Living units cost gold over time, towns research upgrades with land, and grenadiers ignore bonus flanking damage.

  • Each living unit pays upkeep: 1% of its gold cost per second, multiplied by its remaining health. A unit at half health pays half.
  • Upkeep cannot drop gold below zero.
  • The gold per second beside your treasury is income after upkeep.
  • The line under that shows your top-lane bonus, bank income, and upkeep. It turns red when upkeep is higher than income.
  • Speed, damage, and armor readouts moved to the bottom corners of the screen.
  • Unit alternates start unlocked. Swipe sideways on a buy button to switch; buy buttons start on the standard unit.
  • Alternates cost gold plus land (default 20% of their gold cost). A +land chip under the buy button shows that price when the alternate is selected.
  • Click a town you own to invest 1 land per second toward its upgrade. Click again to stop. Production ends if you lose the town; a new owner does not inherit it.
  • When you cannot fund every producing town, land goes to the towns closest to your keep first. Research keeps going after each rank until you stop or hit the cap.
  • The scoreboard shows net land per second, and the economy row lists the research land drain.
  • Move-order flashes appear above the unit selection readout.
  • Grenadiers ignore bonus flanking damage. Charge and other bonuses still apply; they remain troops for everything else.

• 2026-09-24

  Charge Through & Stack Resolve

  Cavalry can charge through friendlies, and stacked units peel apart instead of fighting through each other.

  • Dragoons and Lancers no longer collide with friendly units while charging.
  • When units that were passing through each other start colliding again (for example after leaving fallback), they step forward or back — whichever is shorter — until they no longer overlap.
  • Units cannot fire or melee while overlapping a friendly they collide with.

• 2026-09-23

  Happy Birthday!

  Men of the Line is now a game!

  • Game is live and complete!
  • You can not play as a guest, or log into Formbar to play ranked or matched games.