With It Or On It

About this board game

With It Or On It is a two-player ancient wargame with a playing time of about 60 minutes, published in 2019. It presents six battles from the Greco-Persian and Peloponnesian Wars through a broad-brush system focused on speed and playability.

As the first wargame in the Shields & Swords Ancients series, it shares the core philosophy of its Medieval-era cousin while introducing rules shaped for Ancient warfare. Players use Command Markers to activate Wings, creating a streamlined framework for directing formations during battle.

• Fight across six battles from two major ancient conflicts.
• Activate Wings with Command Markers.
• Use hoplite Combat Class advantages when attacking.
• Manage exhaustion, pressure, morale, and the risk of a line-breaking rout.

Hoplite units attacking in formation may use the Combat Class of the best hoplite in their line. This gives them an advantage over heavy and light infantry formations, making the timing and location of an assault especially important.

Combat creates exhaustion, but its results can be distributed elsewhere along the line. A break occurs when no fresh units remain to satisfy the result, turning local pressure into a serious threat to the entire formation.

The central challenge in With It Or On It is knowing when to maintain pressure and when to protect the morale of your own men. Break the enemy line at the right time and in the right place, and it may collapse into a disastrous rout—with the fate of empires hanging in the balance.