# 1. Mint a Battledog.

First, you need to **mint** a combat NFT to participate and engage other players. The cost to mint an NFT is **$2** (give or take) in **Ethereum** (<mark style="color:blue;">**ETH**</mark><mark style="color:blue;">)</mark>. Note what is required for just this buy is **Ethereum** tokens itself and not <mark style="color:blue;">**MANTA**</mark>, **although Manta will become the only token that will be spent for every action you take while playing the game.**

This is a little **green** soldier of fortune on the right menu option of the dapp.

![](https://content.gitbook.com/content/8du98yVMXUGCbuq8roYl/blobs/A5pn3nySFRiCEWERssDp/mint%20\(Custom\).png)

&#x20;You can't miss it!

(A little note, minting on any blockchain incurs a little fee we call GAS. **Manta** is among the world's cheapest, inexpensive blockchain L2 EVMs which makes it ideal for gaming, so the additional gas fee for minting shouldn't give you any concern.)

**This a prerequisite to play.  You need to have enough WETH on the blockchain to cover these fees else your transaction will fail.**&#x20;