Polemos is a wargame played on a gridded map printed on cloth. Cardboard terrain is added to the map. Cardboard hills in different sizes are included in the game, placed under the cloth. The game is deterministic with no randomness, but has some hidden information regarding how many more losses each enemy unit can take before it is eliminated. The game was patented and published first in 1883, and sold as a package with the rulebook and pre-painted playing pieces for two generic unnamed armies. Each army is controlled by 1-3 players. The first two editions of the game used miniature soldiers. The third edition instead used painted blocks.