Games of Soldiers

IQISHIQI

Copyright (c) 2003 João Pedro Neto

The game starts at following hexagonal board (the central stone is called the neutral stone). There are also enough one color stones off board.

GROUP - One or more connected stones of the same color.

EDGES - Each player owns three non adjacent board edges. Let's denote North (South) the player which owns the north (south) edge.

MOVE - On each turn, a player drops one stone on an empty cell, provided:

The dropped stone becomes part of a group of N >=1 stones where at least one of its stones is in a line of sight with the neutral stone, with at least N empty cells beyond it.

Then, the neutral stone moves N cells away from the stone mentioned (the player may choose, if there is more than one direction)

GOAL - A player who cannot make a legal move on his turn loses, otherwise a player wins if the stone reaches one of his edges.

If the stone reaches a corner, the player that just moved wins.

An example
If the player drops at the green cell he wins the game by moving the neutral stone to one of his edges (assuming that the player owns that edge).
That dropped stone will belong to a group of 4 stones, and so, the player may push the neutral stone four cells west, away from one of the group stones.
Instead, he cannot drop at the red cells, because in that case, the neutral stone would need to slide exactly 5 cells and there is not enough space to do that.

Stalemating the adversary
South dropped the marked stone, stalemating North and winning.

Winning a fast game
North dropped the marked stone and wins the game(!). South cannot do anything to stop the neutral ball reaching the SW edge.

A winning path
South drops the marked stone. Now all the next moves, moving the neutral ball from [1] to [4] are the only possible ones (can you find where the players must drop their stones), giving a victory to South!!

The last three examples where taken from actual games.

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Weituweiqi is 2005 variant based on asymmetrical roles, one player tries to encircle (the Blocker), the other tries to escape to the board edge (the Escaper). The Escaper has a much easier role, so there is an auction phase where player drops stones until one player decides to be the Blocker. Then, the other player, the Escaper, moves.

During the auction phase:

the placements must move the ball

if a player moves the ball to the edge, he immediately loses the game

if a player stalemates the position, he also loses (the adversary just announces he will be the Blocker)

Here's the auction phase of a sample match:

abcdefghijklmnopqrstu
     . x . . . .        1. c6  q6
    x x . . x x .       2. r7  d7
   . . . . . . . .      3. g2  q8
  . . . . . x . . .     4. e8n h1
. . . . . . . . . .    5. o2  k8
. x . . . . . . x . .   6. j9  e2
. x . . . . . . x .    7. m2  m4
  . x . . x . . x .     8.
   . . : x . . . .      9.
    . O . . . . .      10.
     . . . . . .       11.
abcdefghijklmnopqrstu

The last player moved the ball to g10, since he feels the auction is ending, and he placed a stone where the adversary will not dare to start as Blocker.

Auction: c6,s6,   p1,n1,   g10,e4, f9,g2,   p11,s4,
         q10,h11e, n7,t7w, h1,r9w, j1nw,c4 J takes

abcdefghijklmnopqrstu
     . x . . x x       1
    . x . . . . .      2
   . . . . . . . .     3
  x x . . . . . . x    4
. . . . . . . . . .   5
. x . . . . . . . x .  6
. . O . . . . . . x   7
  . . . . . . . . .    8
   . x . . . . . x     9
    . x . . . . x     10
     . x x . x x      11
abcdefghijklmnopqrstu

Bill played g6 and wins.
If João moves d8, he loses after h7
        moves c8, he loses after e8!

Hex Pushpin is 2011 variant by Bill Taylor from a concept of Nick Bentley.

On his turn, the player passes, or puts an own stone on any empty space.

If it is adjacent to the pin, the directly opposite cell must be empty, and the pin must be pushed away from the player's stone. (If these conditions are not met then the move is unlawful.)

The push moves the pin a nonzero distance over and to empty cells, the landing cell being interior.

Two passes end the game, at which time whoever occupies more of the pin-adjacent cells is the winner.

A sample match:

  abcdefghijklm     _Billo__Joaox_
     . . . o     1.   e4 2  l5 2
    . o x . .    2.   j1 2  h3 2
   . . O x . .   3.   f7 2  k6 -
  . # o . x . .  4.   j5 -  h5 -
   . . . x o x   5.   e2 -  i4 -
    . o . . x    6.   e6!-  g2 -
     . o . .     7.   f3 - resigns
  abcdefghijklm

After playtesting, the game seems slow and aimless

Another 2011 variant of Iqishiqi is Push and Pull by Taylor and Neto:

12* moves

There are two balls, one from each player

A move is to place a neutral stone on an empty cell.

If the played stone is in line with either (or both) player markers, with only empty cells (if any) between them, the marker may be moved.

Movement of markers is either directly toward or directly away from the played stone (mover's choice), at least one cell, and over and onto empty cells.

It is required that both markers be moved at least once in each turn.

If on any turn a marker cannot be moved, it's owner loses the game.

If this applies to both markers in the same turn, it is a draw.

Two sample matches (the two numbers after each placement is how much each ball was pushed/pulled):

|  abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy
|        . . . . . . .        1.
|       . O . . . . . .       2.
|      . . . . . . . . .      3.
|     . . . . . . . . . .     4.
|    . . . . . . O J O . .    5.
|   . . . . . . . . . . . .   6.
|  . . . . . . O . . . . . .  7.
|   . . . O . . . . O . . .   8.
|    . . . . . O . . . . .    9.
|     . . . . O . . . . .    10.
|      O . O . . . . . .     11.
|       . . . . . O . .      12.
|        B . O . O O O       13.
|  abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy

:    _______Joao________     ________Bill_________
1.   (balls start g5 s9)     --------    o5  -2  2
2.   e11 -4  4  s5 -3  0     h8  -5  2   r8   0  1
3.   q13 -4  4  h2 -5  0     s13  0 -5   p12 -6  0
4.   m7  -4  4 i11 0 1     o13 -1  0   m9  -2  6
5.   l10  0  2 k13 -3  1 & wins (B no longer can move)

  abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy       ___Bill_______Joao___
        . . . o . . .         1.  o5  -2 1    d4   3 --
       . o . . . o . .        2.  i7  -1 3    o11 -4 --
      . . . o o . . . o       3.  l10  3 1    p13  3 --
     o o o . . . . o . .      4.  f4  -2 --   g14  5 --
    . o . . o . o . . . .     5.  l6  -1 6    m7  -5 --
   . . . . . o J . . B . .    6.  p8   1 1    h4  -4 -1
  . . . . o . o o . . . . .   7.  k5   1 1    e5   1 --
   . . . . . . . o . . . .    8.  u3  -5 --   m1  -2 --
    . . . . . . . . . . .     9.  m3  -1 3    k3  -2 --
     . . . . o . . . . .     10.  p2   2 --   h2   1 --
      . . . . . o . . .      11.  r4   1 -1   o7  -2 --
       . . . . . o . .       13.
        o . . . . . .        14.
  abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy       ___Bill_______Joao___
        . . . o . . .         1.  o5  -2 1    d4   3 --
       . o . . . o . .        2.  i7  -1 3    o11 -4 --
      . . . o o o . . o       3.  l10  3 1    p13  3 --
     o o o . o . . o . .      4.  f4  -2 --   g14  5 --
    . o . . o J o . . . .     5.  l6  -1 6    m7  -5 --
   . . . . . o . o B . . .    6.  p8   1 1    h4  -4 -1
  . . . . o . o o . . . . .   7.  k5   1 1    e5   1 --
   . . . . . . . o . . . .    8.  u3  -5 --   m1  -2 --
    . . . . . . . . . . .     9.  m3  -1 3    k3  -2 --
     . . . . o . . . . .     10.  p2   2 --   h2   1 --
      . . . . . o . . .      11.  r4   1 -1   o7  -2 --
       . . . . . o . .       13.  p6  -1 --   l4  -1 --  forced
        o . . . . . .        14.  o3  any     resign
  abcdefhijklmnopqrstuvwxy

	An example If the player drops at the green cell he wins the game by moving the neutral stone to one of his edges (assuming that the player owns that edge). That dropped stone will belong to a group of 4 stones, and so, the player may push the neutral stone four cells west, away from one of the group stones. Instead, he cannot drop at the red cells, because in that case, the neutral stone would need to slide exactly 5 cells and there is not enough space to do that.
	Stalemating the adversary South dropped the marked stone, stalemating North and winning.
	Winning a fast game North dropped the marked stone and wins the game(!). South cannot do anything to stop the neutral ball reaching the SW edge.
	A winning path South drops the marked stone. Now all the next moves, moving the neutral ball from [1] to [4] are the only possible ones (can you find where the players must drop their stones), giving a victory to South!!