Three Musketeers Strategy: 5 Tips
Three Musketeers is a game of tempo: every forced capture is a move the Cardinal chose for you. Rules first? See how to play.
1. Musketeers: stay spread
Three different rows and three different columns is the safe shape. Before each capture, check that the destination keeps you off your companions' row and column, now and after the enemy's reply.
2. Musketeers: run out of food
You win when no capture exists. Eat the men around you early so that each musketeer sits in a clearing; a musketeer surrounded by empty squares is a musketeer who can't be forced anywhere.
3. Cardinal: offer one capture
A musketeer with exactly one adjacent man has no choice. Shape the board so every musketeer's only capture leads toward a shared row or column.
4. Cardinal: don't crowd
Men next to a musketeer are food; men two squares away are walls. Step back from musketeers you want to starve of good options, and step in where you want to force a move.
5. Count two moves ahead
Before the musketeers capture, look at the man that will be exposed next to the landing square: that is the capture you may be forced into next turn.
The hard computer searches five plies, valuing spread across rows and columns against the number of captures left; normal searches three; easy plays at random but never steps into a losing line.
Frequently asked questions
How do the Cardinal's men force a line-up?
By controlling which captures exist. Move men away from where a musketeer should not go, and leave men only where a capture drags it toward its companions' row or column. Because musketeers must capture, a single available capture is a forced move.
Last updated 2026-10-21