Many years ago, I asked one of our project’s members (FrustratedPoet) to come up with a unique game that the folk of Candle’Bre would use to occupy their time and entertain themselves with. I’ve included his notes just below, complete with all his original illustrations that pertain to the design of the game.

On my list of things to do is to actually create, then mass produce this card game in a decorative tin for sale here on the site. It’s not a huge priority, but it’s something I think that would make a nice addition.

King’s Gambit Rules

Needed for play:

1) One game board
2) Two sets of game cards (9 cards per set)

Unfortunately you’ll have to make these cards yourself if you want to try this game out … you can’t use ordinary playing cards because everything in this game is triangular.

Yes … you read that right, it’s all triangular.

The board and the cards:

The game board is made up of 52 equilateral triangles arranged in 4 rows of 13.
Thusly:

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Each card is also an equilateral triangle with dimensions slightly smaller than the tiles on the game board. It has a number between 2 and 9 printed adjacent to each of its three edges. These numbers always add up to 13.
Thusly:

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Each player has a set of 9 cards and each set is identical.
The numbers on the cards are:
4 – 5 – 4 (x2)
5 – 5 – 3 (x2)
7 – 3 – 3
9 – 2 – 2
6 – 5 – 2
8 – 3 – 2
6 – 4 – 3

Start-up:

When the game starts Player A goes first and places one of his cards anywhere in the row of triangles nearest to him on the game board.

Here is a pic of where each player can play his or her cards, Player A is red and Player B is blue:

After Player A has placed one card in his starting zone then Player B places two cards in his zone. The play then goes back and forth, with each player placing two cards in their respective zones until all cards are on the board. (On Player B’s last go he will only have one card to place).

Movement will then commence.

Player A goes first and moves any one of his cards. A card can move to either of the two triangles immediately to the side of it, or any of the arcs of three triangles directly in front or behind it.
Thusly:

When the card is moved it can be rotated in any way so that the player can choose in what direction each of the card’s numbers will be facing.

Player B then does likewise and the moves alternate until the game’s conclusion.

Combat:

When two cards of opposing teams are position so that their borders are touching then combat will ensue. The combat model is pretty simple … basically whichever card has the lower number is destroyed and is removed from the game board. If one of Player A’s cards is moved so that it shares two borders with cards from Player B then the order of resolution is determined by the difference between the values on the opposing edges of the cards. The highest difference between the two values is resolved first, but all combats must be resolved during the turn.

(Does that last bit make sense? If anyone doesn’t understand the order of resolution then I’ll make another awful diagram)

If the numbers on the opposing edges are identical then the combat is considered a draw and both cards remain on the table.

Winning:

The first player to annihilate the opposing army is the winner.

New rules note: A player MUST make one move each turn, passing on your turn is not possible.

These variants … well the last two at least … will drastically alter strategy and gameplay for the base version. I suppose that elements of several variants could be combined together, but I can’t deal with that possibility right now.

Surprise Attack:
In this variant each player’s cards are shuffled and placed face down in a pile in front of them before placement begins at the start of the game. The player must draw a card from the top of the pile and place them in order, rather than choosing which card to place.

Assimilation:
When a card is defeated in combat, instead of being removed from the game it is ‘captured’/’converted’ and can be moved only by the other player. If a card changing allegiance provokes another combat – because it is adjacent to one of its former team-mates – then combat will be resolved immediately. If the converted card is victorious then the card it defeated is also converted … and so on. To avoid infinite loops: if a converted card engages in combat during the round in which it was converted, and loses that combat, then it retains it’s new allegiance and is not re-converted to its former side … such combats are considered a draw. The balance of power in this variant can swing very quickly because a single victory in combat can set off a chain reaction that converts many cards to your side.

A card’s change of allegiance can be shown visually be the placing of bits of coloured glass (in either red or blue, as appropriate) on every card at the start of the game. When a card is converted its existing token is removed and a new one of a different colour put on. (For the purposes of play-testing any marker will do, naturally.)

Win conditions: I’m not sure if they total annihilation win condition will work for this variant. Because the games will fluctuate so much it might take months for someone to gain control of every card at once. Perhaps it is best to say that the first player to have control of 14 cards at the end of their turn (eg. All of their own plus more than half of the opponent’s) wins the game.

(Again … this is pretty complex … if I didn’t make myself clear enough then don’t hesitate to ask for clarification.)

Fortress:
In this variant each player is given an additional three cards, each of them with a value of 1 – 1 –1. When these cards (and only these) are destroyed, instead of being removed from the game board they are turned upside down to act as an impenetrable barrier. If some sad player completely boxes in one of their cards, thus eliminating the possibility of their entire army being destroyed, then they lose the game.

FP