CONQUEST

Copyright (c) ? ??

The game is played on a 9x9 board, with the following setup:

MOVE - Both the soldier and the King move to any adjacent diagonal empty cell. EXILE - If a player can trap an enemy stone between two of his own stones, on a diagonal line (both stones being adjacent to the trapped one), then the player may pick the trapped stone and place it on any empty cell where the stone could move by itself (that means, on a checkered board, to place it on a square of the same color where it was). FORTRESS - This is the name of the center 3x3 board area. GOAL - The first player to satisfy one of the following conditions, wins: Place his King on the center cell and Place four friendly stones on the 4 diagonal adjacent cells (the X), or Place four friendly stones on the 4 orthogonal adjacent cells (the cross).

An example It's White's turn and he is much more close to achieve the X winning pattern. He must move g6-f5 in order to prevent Black to move there. Even if Black moves f6-g4, White protects his King with e7-f6. The race b1-c2-d3-e4 is longer than White's g2-f3-e4.

The game is described in Stephen Addison's 100 Other Games to play on a Chessboard,

but the book gives no author or reference for this game.

The game also appears in Meroni and Spinelli, Il Grande Manuale dei Giochi da Tavolo (1996), again without references.