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Twelve Men's Morris Strategy and Tips

Here is how to think about winning at Twelve Men's Morris, split into short lessons. Each one reads on its own, and each one comes with a real position: press Try it on the board and you play the move yourself.

Every corner belongs to three mills

Lesson 1

In Nine Men's Morris, every corner carries just one line and belongs to only one possible mill. Twelve Men's Morris adds a diagonal at each of the board's four corners, running from the outer corner through the middle corner to the inner corner. Thanks to that diagonal, every corner point now joins two ring mills and one diagonal mill — three in total.

Here you already hold the outer square's top-left corner and the inner square's top-left corner. Both sit on the same diagonal, and only the middle square's corner between them is open. Play the glowing point and all three line up diagonally for a mill.

Carrying Nine Men's Morris habits into this game costs you: corners are no longer weak here. Every corner, and especially a middle-square corner with both its diagonal and its ring lines, belongs to more mills than almost any other point. When you're choosing where to place, look at the corners first.

Fork from a corner point

Lesson 2

A corner point in this game belongs to a ring mill and a diagonal mill — three lines in all. If you already hold one stone on a ring mill and another on a diagonal mill, placing on the corner where they meet leaves both mills one point short at the same time.

Here you hold a stone on the middle square's top-right corner, part of a ring line, and another on the inner square's top-left corner, part of a diagonal. Play the glowing middle square's top-left corner, and both the ring mill on the right and the diagonal mill are now one point from completion.

Your opponent can block only one of them on their next turn. Play the other yourself afterwards and you complete a mill, removing one of their stones. The extra diagonal makes forking from a corner easier here than in Nine Men's Morris.

Swing a mill along the diagonal

Lesson 3

A corner in this game is also linked diagonally to the corner one step further in. That extra link lets you build the same swinging mill you'd use elsewhere in Morris, but centred on a corner. Prepare one mill on the corner itself and another on its ring neighbour, then shuttle between them.

Here you hold two stones along the outer square's top row and two more along the middle square's top row. A stone currently sits on the outer square's top-left corner, completing that row. Move it diagonally to the middle square's top-left corner, and while the outer mill breaks, it joins the middle row into a fresh mill.

Move it back along the same diagonal next turn and the mill rebuilds for another capture. The diagonal link that Nine Men's Morris doesn't have makes it easier to build a swinging mill anchored on a corner here.

Choose the removal that stops their next move

Lesson 4

When a mill lets you remove a stone and you have a choice, which one you pick matters. Removing an isolated stone does nothing to slow your opponent down. If two of their stones already sit on the same mill line with one point still open, take one of those two first.

Here your opponent holds two stones along the middle square's top row. Both belong to the same mill, and the remaining point is open — if they fill it next turn, the mill completes. Their other stone sits alone on an inner corner, unconnected to any mill right now.

Remove the glowing stone, and your opponent has to start that row over from nothing. Remove the corner stone instead, and their row stays intact and ready. When you get to choose, take out the pair that's closest to finishing, not the stone standing by itself.

Try it on the board

Pick a lesson and the board starts from that position. Start over as often as you like.

Now put it to work

Play with friendsLearn how to play (3 min)

Last updated 2026-09-19 · Run by Qdan, Inc.