Triumvirate
| Triumvirate | ||
|---|---|---|
| Thomas R. Brendel | ||
| Capture at least two trees' worth of opponent's pieces | ||
| Players: | 2 | |
| Length: | unknown | |
| Complexity: | Medium | |
| Trios per color: | 5 | |
| Number of colors: | 2 | |
| - - - - - - Other equipment - - - - - - | ||
| Chessboard | ||
| Setup time: | 3 minutes | |
| Strategy depth: | Medium | |
| Random chance: | None | |
| Theme: | abstract | |
| Status: Not Specified (v1.0), Year released: 2005 | ||
Triumvirate
an Icehouse game for two players
Materials
Your first task is a simple one. Get a stash for each player and a chessboard.
- Two monochrome stashes
- An 8×8 grid
| Materials Needed |
Got 'em? All right, so far, so good. Now both of you will have to draw up a card like this:
It doesn't have to be anything fancy. You can use any old scrap of paper, as long as there's enough room to lay a large piece in the general area of any circle without encroaching on the others. You don't even have to draw the arrows unless you want to; they're just here to show that the letters stand for Orthogonal, Diagonal, and L-shaped movement. If you can remember that much on your own (and surely you can remember that much?) then the arrows can be done without.
Take one piece of each size from your stash. This is your Triumvirate. These pieces will dictate how your pieces on the board move and how they can be captured. Place them on the indicated section of the card, one per circle, in any order you like, flat or upright. The Prisoner section will remain empty for the time being.
Setup
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Place a large piece in the lower-right corner of the board, a medium in the next square to the left, and a small in the square to the left of that. Put the rest of your pieces just off the board next to them.
Play
The number of pieces on your card determine the movement points that will be available to you each turn. Flat pieces allow pieces of the same size to move in the manner indicated, and upright pieces assert that pieces of the same size can only be captured by a move in the manner indicated.
At the beginning of each turn, you may rearrange your Triumvirate however you see fit. You must then use all of your available movement points. Each point allows you to move one piece, or to place a new piece on a vacant starting square. Orthogonal and diagonal moves can be either one space or two. There is no limit to how many times you may move a given piece during a single turn.
Captured pieces become Prisoners. At the end of any turn in which you take a Prisoner, you have the option of using it as a Hostage. If you choose to do so, place the piece in the appropriate section of your card. If not, place it in a separate holding area. Hostages add to your movement points and affect your pieces in the same manner as the Triumvirate. However, once placed, they cannot be moved, with one exception: When you take a new Prisoner, you may move a Hostage into your holding area and put the new Prisoner in its place.
Game End
To win, you must have enough Prisoners (not including Hostages) to form two complete trees that is, at least two of each size.
| Win for Red | Win for Blue |
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