General Play
The Sanctum login screen has three options: Create Account, Log In, and Exit. After you select Log In, enter your username and password, and press Continue. On the next screen, press Play to continue to the Great Hall.

The Great Hall
The Great Hall contains several different areas where players may be located. There is a button at the top of the Great Hall screen for selecting a realm. The Elysian Fields realm, which is intended for beginning players, is the default realm. You may also choose to play in Valhalla, where games are ranked, and players may have access to a great many more cards than players in Elysian Fields are expected to have.

The left window displays the avatars and usernames for all players currently in that area. You can chat by clicking the lower right hand area, typing text, and pressing enter on your keyboard (or the Send button on the screen). You will see your chat message displayed in the chat window in the upper right.

Issuing a Challenge
To challenge a player, click on their avatar and then click the challenge button or simply double-click their icon. When the second window appears, press the Yes button. (If another player challenges you, a dialog box will open which allows you to accept or decline the challenge.)

Once a challenge has been issued and accepted, the last step before the game starts is selecting a deck. When the file directory opens, simply press the button that says Build Me a Deck. The program will make a first deck for you automatically from the cards in your collection. This deck will favor cards of your main House of Magic.

It is a good idea to arrange to meet someone in the lobby via email or ICQ.

The Game
There are three main actions you take in the game: training recruits, moving recruits, and casting spells. You start the game with a group of four minions in your Sanctum, ready to go. Give them marching orders by dragging them into an adjacent square and dropping them there. You will see an arrow appear to show where they will move at the end of the turn. You want to move them to take a town, since towns create more recruits for you.

If your group cannot move through particular square - for example, if they cannot climb a mountain or walk on water - you will not be able to place a movement order arrow in that square.

Then, you want to train one of the novices inside your Sanctum (in the right sidebar) to make a point of mana (raw magical power) for you. You do this by dragging the novice onto a mana symbol and dropping it. You will want to create whichever type of magic you most need to cast the spells in your hand (the cards at the top of the screen).

Once a recruit is trained to make magic in this manner, he will continue to make a point of magic for you every turn. You can train one novice from your Sanctum to make magic each turn. However, mana points do not save up over time; they must be spent each turn or they are lost.

You can also train novices to be warriors or archers by dragging them onto the sword or arrow areas in the Sanctum. However, at the beginning you will want to save most of your novices for magic.

When you have enough magic to cast a spell, double-click on it to see what it does and where you should cast it (on a group; on a town; on a single minion; on a board square). Then drag the spell onto the target and drop it. A spell marker will appear on the target, and the spell will go off after Confirm Orders.

Now press Confirm Orders, and watch your group move into the square where you sent them. After the Confirm Orders phase, three phases take place before you can give orders again: spells take effect, groups and summoned monsters move, and adjacent opponents go into battle.