Ambush
| Ambush | ||
|---|---|---|
| Designed by Jason Spears & Erik Oosterwal | ||
| A capture game for 2-3 players with 2 stashes and 4 Martian Coasters. | ||
| Players: | ||
| Length: | unknown | |
| Complexity: | Low | |
| Trios per color: | 5 | |
| Number of colors: | 2 | |
| - - - - - - Other equipment - - - - - - | ||
| Martian Coasters | ||
| Setup time: | 1 minute or less | |
| Strategy depth: | Medium | |
| Random chance: | None | |
| Theme: | Abstract | |
| BGG Link: | Ambush | |
| Status: Complete (v1.0), Year released: 2008 | ||
Ambush is an abstract strategy game for 2 players. Two stashes, one per player and 4 Martian Coasters are needed. Players will either play one of their 15 pyramids on the board or set a pyramid aside to rotate a coaster. Either action may allow them to capture a pyramid belonging to their opponent. The winner is the player who has captured the most pips worth of opposing pyramids.
Components
| Player 1 | |||
| Player 2 | |||
| Player 3 | |||
| Player 4 | |||
The game requires four Martian Coasters (or four plain 3×3 grids) plus one stash in a unique color for each player.
Setup
Lay four Martian Coasters out in a 2×2 grid. Players arrange their pyramids into 5 trees.
Playing
Choose a player to go first. That player may take one of two actions:
- Play a pyramid to the board, or
- Rotate one of the coasters.
Rules for Placement Players can only pick a pyramid from the top of their trees. (So on the first turn a player can only choose a small pyramid, then turn after a small or a medium, and so on.) Players can play a pyramid onto any space on the board, so long as it is empty or contains a piece of their color. If a player plays a pyramid in square occupied by his color, the new pyramid stacks on top of any pyramid(s) already there and the strength of the stack changes.
Strength of Stacks Attack/defense strength is determined by the visible pips in any stack. So a 2-pip pyramid will cover a 1-pip and be worth only two points of attack. A 1-pip pyramid played on top of a 2-pip pyramid will add to the strength of a 3-pip pyramid.
| one point | two points | three points |
| one point | three points | six points |
The stacks in each of these columns contain the same number of pyramids, but they are worth different attack values because they differ in visible pips.
| 3 points | 6 points |
Although the green and blue stacks contain the same total number of pips and pyramids, the pyramid on the left has only three pips visible (small and medium are covered up) while the pyramid on the right has six visible pips.
Capture
If the piece played is adjacent to an opponents piece, there is the possibility of a capture. Including when a player puts a second (or third) piece in a single square. If the opponents piece now has two pieces of your color on two opposing sides of it and the total number of visible pips is more than the pips in the square between then you may take one of your opponents pieces. If your opponent has multiple pieces in a single square, you may only take the one on top.
Examples
| A | B | C | |||
| 1 | Here if Black places a 2-pip or 3-pip pyramid on B3, Black will capture the 3-pip red pyramid. If Black has only 1-pip pyramids available, Black will be unable to capture the red pyramid this turn. | ||||
| 2 | |||||
| 3 | |||||
| A | B | C | |||
| 1 | Here if Red places a 2-pip or 3-pip pyramid on C3, Red will capture the 3-pip black pyramid. On A3, only a 3-pip pyramid will cause the capture. A 1-pip pyramid cannot cause a capture right now. | ||||
| 2 | |||||
| 3 | |||||
| A | B | C | |||
| 1 | Here it is Red's turn. If Red places a 1, 2, or 3 pip piece at A3, they will capture both of Black's pieces. | ||||
| 2 | |||||
| 3 | |||||
| A | B | C | |||
| 1 | Black's turn. Placing a 2-pip or 3-pip pyramid on B3 will capture the white pyramid. A 3-pip red pyramid on A2 would also capture the white 3-pip pyramid. | ||||
| 2 | |||||
| 3 | |||||
| A | B | C | |||
| 1 | Black's turn. Playing a 1-pip pyramid at A3 will not result in any captures. But playing a 2-pip or 3-pip pyramid there will allow Black to capture the top-most red pyramid, (the 1-pip). The remaining white pyramid (the 2-pip pyramid) will stay in place until Black plays another pyramid on A1 or A3. | ||||
| 2 | |||||
| 3 | |||||
| A | B | C | |||
| 1 | Black may safely play a pyramid at B1; it would not be captured at the end of his turn. However, if Red were to play an additional piece at A1 or C1, the black piece would be captured. | ||||
| 2 | |||||
| 3 | |||||
Game End
The game ends when the second player plays their last pyramid (their 15th pyramid.) The winner is the player who has captured the most pips worth of pieces.
Version 0.6 of the rules are available. This represents a simplification of the capture rules from previous versions.
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/spearjr/games/Icehouse/thumb/ambush_02.jpg_thumb.jpg http://www.majhost.com/gallery/spearjr/games/Icehouse/thumb/ambush_03.jpg_thumb.jpg
Other Languages
License
http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/88x31.png
This work is distributed by Jason Spears & Erik Oosterwal under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
| Entered in the Icehouse Game Design Competition, Summer 2008 |
|---|
| Winner: Ambush 2nd: Logger 3rd: Albiorix 4th: Virus_Fight 5th: Atom_Smasher |
| 6th: Dog_Eat_Dog & Martian_BattleSpires 8th: Pass_The_Pyramids 9th: T-Minus 10th: Tresurion |