Original strategy game

Sartaba Dominion

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Green1

Purple1

Flags0/2

Quick setup

Start Dominion

Move your pawns, reveal hidden flags, isolate enemy pawns, and control the hex map.

ⓘ How to start ⓘ Full guide

Game mode

Single Screen/PC - configure your AI opponent.

Green

Purple

AI difficulty

Play

Green to move

Green 0 - Purple 0Win by eliminating all enemy pawns or capturing the Nexus.

Dominion

Sartaba Dominion - Game menu

Read the full Dominion guide →
Complete rules with diagrams, strategy, and FAQ.

How to start

Choose Vs AI for a local game or Vs. Friend to create or join an online game.
For local play, choose who controls Green and Purple, then press Start game.
Each side starts with five pawns around its Nexus Fortress. Green moves first.
Move one pawn per turn. Build connected territory from your Nexus and keep your pawns supplied.
Reach hidden Flags, link a pawn to stabilize them, and turn captured Flags into forward supply anchors.
Win by eliminating every enemy pawn or by capturing the enemy Nexus.

Step-by-step setup with screenshots in the Dominion FAQ →

How to play

Click one of your pawns to show its legal moves, then click a highlighted hex. Legal moves may include moving, attacking a pawn, linking to a hidden Flag, or attacking the enemy Nexus.

Each pawn has a Strength value — shown as a vertical coloured bar on its left side and a number below it. Strength starts at 1.0 and rises each time the pawn captures new territory.
Owned tiles form supply lines. If a pawn is cut away from your Nexus or a captured Flag, it loses 0.5 Strength each full round and cannot gain Strength until reconnected. Strength is never restored by reconnecting.
Pawns farther from any friendly anchor earn a dynamic distance bonus (up to +3.0 on top of base Strength, +0.4 per hex beyond adjacent), rewarding deep expansion over safe perimeter growth.
Flags are not stepped on. A pawn stands next to a hidden Flag and spends a turn linking to it.
A linked pawn holds the stabilization task. Moving that pawn breaks the link and resets progress.
To push an enemy pawn, your combined attack Strength must reach at least 1.5× the defender's Strength. A strong pawn may push alone; adjacent friendly pawns add their Strength. Green arrows show legal pushes; red dashed arrows mark pushes you cannot yet make.
Use the move history and strength bars to track supply cuts, Flag captures, Nexus pressure, and eliminations.

Pawn - Your only movable unit. Occupies tiles, attacks with support, and creates territory.
Controlled Tile - Preserves supply and ownership but does not attack.
Flag Stronghold - A captured Flag becomes a forward supply anchor.
Nexus Fortress - Your core anchor. Capturing the enemy Nexus wins the game.
Supply Path - Dotted line showing connection back to a Flag or Nexus.
Strength bar — Vertical bar on the pawn's left side. Red = Strength below 1.0 (draining or heavily pushed). Yellow = 1.0–2.5 (normal). Green = above 2.5 (strong, can push alone). The number below the bar is the exact Strength value.

Rules

Starting Position

Each player starts with one fixed Nexus Fortress and five pawns.
The Nexus is a structure, not a pawn. It cannot move, attack, or add attack support.
Only one pawn may occupy a tile.

Movement

On your turn, move one Pawn to an adjacent hex.
You may enter neutral tiles, your controlled tiles, or enemy controlled tiles.
A pawn may move only one adjacent hex. It cannot jump over tiles or move two hexes at once.
You cannot move onto a friendly occupied tile.

Attacks And Elimination

To push an enemy pawn, the combined attack Strength of the moving pawn and any eligible support must be at least 1.5× the defender's Strength.
A single pawn with enough Strength can push a weaker enemy without any support pawn.
Friendly support pawns adjacent to both the attacker and the defender contribute their Strength to the combined total.
A disconnected attacker cannot push.
A pawn linked to an objective cannot be pushed by normal combat.
When a pawn is selected, green arrows show legal pushes with the combined attack Strength displayed near the attacker. Red dashed arrows mark enemy pawns you do not yet have enough Strength to push.
A pushed pawn retreats to the hex directly opposite the attacker and loses 0.33 Strength. If Strength drops to 0 or below, the pawn is eliminated instead of retreating.
If no legal retreat exists (edge of board, blocked tile, or special structure), the pushed pawn is eliminated.
A pawn surrounded on all sides by enemy-occupied tiles is eliminated immediately.

Influence And Connectivity

Controlled and occupied tiles maintain supply lines back to a friendly Nexus or captured Flag.
A tile is occupied only while a pawn stands on it.
When a pawn leaves a tile, that tile remains controlled by that pawn's player.
Controlled tiles preserve ownership and connectivity, but they do not attack.
Captured Flags and Nexus Fortresses are supply anchors, but they are not pawns and never add attack strength.
A controlled tile changes hands only when an opponent pawn occupies it.
A neutral tile becomes controlled only when it is fully surrounded by one player's occupied or controlled tiles.
A surrounded group of empty controlled tiles changes hands when every border tile around it belongs to the opponent.
A pawn is automatically eliminated if every surrounding tile is occupied by opponent pawns.
Connectivity is traced only through owned territory to a friendly Nexus or captured Flag.

Flags And Supply

Two hidden objectives are placed when the game starts. Both are real Flags.
A pawn adjacent to a hidden Flag can spend a turn linking to it. The pawn does not enter the Flag tile.
The pawn linked to a Flag objective cannot be pushed normally, but can still be eliminated if it becomes disconnected and its Strength reaches zero.
A player with strict local pawn superiority around an objective starts stabilizing it.
Flag stabilization requires four successful rounds of local superiority.
If adjacent pawn pressure is equal, the objective becomes contested and progress resets.
Captured Flags become supply anchors for forward groups.
Captured Flags can be recaptured only when the opponent has more adjacent pawns than the owner.
Flag recapture takes four successful rounds of local pawn superiority. If pressure is broken or tied, progress resets.

Pawn Strength

Every pawn starts at 1.0 Strength, shown as a vertical coloured bar on its left side and a number below the bar.
Capturing a neutral tile permanently adds +0.10 Strength to the moving pawn, provided it is connected to supply after the move.
Capturing an enemy tile permanently adds +0.50 Strength under the same condition.
A disconnected pawn cannot gain Strength from expansion.
Pawns also earn a dynamic distance bonus: +0.4 per hex of distance beyond adjacent from the nearest friendly anchor, up to +3.0. This bonus is recalculated every turn and falls to 0 immediately if the pawn disconnects — strongly encouraging pawns to push forward, not retreat.
Strength colour: red below 1.0 • yellow 1.0–2.5 • green above 2.5.
Maximum permanent Strength is 4.0. With the distance bonus (up to +3.0), maximum effective Strength is 7.0.
Strength is never restored by reconnecting to supply. Only new territorial expansion raises it.
A pawn is eliminated the moment its Strength reaches 0 or below.

Supply And Victory

Pawns are supplied when connected through owned territory to a friendly Nexus or captured Flag.
A disconnected pawn loses 0.5 Strength per full round. Reconnecting stops the drain but does not restore any lost Strength.
When a pawn is eliminated, territory that was connected only through that pawn collapses back to neutral immediately.
The game ends only by elimination victory (all enemy pawns removed) or Nexus capture victory.

Nexus Fortress

Each player has one fixed Nexus Fortress deep inside the starting side.
The Nexus is a structure, not a pawn: it cannot move, attack, or add attack support.
The Nexus anchors territory and acts as an alternative victory objective.
An enemy with more adjacent pawns than the defender can choose to attack the Nexus.
Being adjacent to the Nexus is not enough; the attacking player must spend a turn attacking the Nexus.
Nexus capture requires five successful rounds of local pawn superiority.
If Nexus pressure becomes tied or the defender has more local pawns, capture progress resets and the Nexus returns to defended state.
Capturing the enemy Nexus wins the game immediately.

Full rules with board diagrams → · Strategy guide →

This session · Human vs AI

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About Sartaba Dominion

Sartaba Dominion is an original Sartaba Mind Games strategy game built around supply lines, encirclement, forward strongholds, and Nexus siege warfare on a compact hex board.
The game is designed to feel like a minimalist neon tactical board game: quick to read, tense to play, and deep enough for careful positioning.
We’re always open to ideas, improvements, and feedback — this site grows with the people who use it.

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