Editing Nine men's morris (section)

===Phase 1: placing pieces===
[[Image:Nine Men's Morris board with coordinates, modified.svg|thumb|upright=1.0|Nine men's morris starts on an empty board.]]
The game begins with an empty board. The players determine who plays first and then take turns. During the first phase, a player's turn consists of placing a man from the player's hand onto an empty point. If a player is able to place three pieces on contiguous points in a straight line, vertically or horizontally, they have formed a ''mill'', which allows them to remove one of the opponent's pieces from the board. A piece in an opponent's mill, however, can be removed only if no other pieces are available. After all men have been placed, phase two begins.