Games of Soldiers

SESQUI

Copyright (c) 2007 João Pedro Neto, Bill Taylor

This game is played on an empty 8x8 (players can decide to use larger boards):

Each player has 30 stones.

SETUP - Black start by dropping one black stone, then White drops two white stones.

TURNS - At each turn, each player must do the following sequence:

First, drop a friendly stone on an empty cell adjacent to a friendly stone;

Second, move a friendly stone, like a Chess Queen, to an empty cell.

It is illegal to make one of these 2x2 patterns:

    x o    o x
    o x    x o

GOAL - Black wins by connecting the north and south edges, White by connecting the east and west edges.

The connecting path may include orthogonal and diagonal connections

An example
This is an example of a winning connecting path of black stones.

Sesqui means one and a half in Latin. This idea can be turned into a mutator:

In each turn, the player may add one new stone, and may move one current own-stone. These can be done in either order, and either/both may be passed. Swap option always applies.

Here's a Gomoku variant with kingwise moves:

SESQUI-5-MOKU
===========              OOO       XXX (was swapped)
a b c d e f g h i      =================
. . . . x . o . .  1.  c2 ----   d3 ----
. . x . o o x . .  2.  d4 c2c3   e5 d3e4
. . , o x . o . .  3.  d5 c3d3   d6 e4f4
. . o . o x x o .  4.  d2 ----   d1 ----
. O x o x . . . .  5.  g2 d2e3   f3 f4g4
. . o x x . . . .  6.  f2 d3e2   c5 d1d2
. x o . . . . . .  7.  h2 e3f4   g2 c5b6
. . . . . . . . .  8.  h4 h2g1   e3 d2e1
. . . . . . . . .  9.  d2 f4e4   d3 f3f4
                  10.  c7 d4c3   e6 d3c2
                  11.  c6 d2d3   c5 b6b7
                  12.  b5 c3c4   resigns

A Go variant:

SESQUI-GO
=========               XXX       OOO            XXX       OOO
  a b c d e f g      ==================       ==================
  . o x . . . .   1.  ...  d4   ...  c4   11. c7d7  g7    g4g5 e7
  O o x o o X .   2.  ...  c3   ...  d3   12. g3g4  c7    ---- c1
  : o x x . . .   3.  ...  e3   d3c2 b3   13. ----  d1    ---- b1
  : o o x x x x   4. e3d3  d2   c2b2 c5   14. ----  a6    ---- a5
  o o o x o o o   5. d2c2  d5   ---- d6   15. ----  a7    c1d2 e2
  x x o x o . .   6. ----  e6   d6e7 d7   16. d1c1  a4    b6b5 b4
  . x x x o . .   7. e6d6  c6   d7e6 b6   17. a7b6  a3    ---- a2
                  8. c6d7  f5   e7e6 e5   18. ----  f2    resign
                  9. f5f4  e4   e5f5 g4
                 10. d7c7  b7   f6e5 c6

And a Y variant:

SESQUY
======                      XXX       OOO
abcdefghijklmnopqrs       =================
         .            1.  g8        j7
        . .           2.  h7 g8i9   k8 j7k6
       . . .          3.  l7 h7j7   o6 k8m8
      . o . .         4.  n7 i8j9   p7 m8o8
     X o . . x        5.  n5 n7m6   f7 k6i6
    o x x x , o       6.  j5 j7k8   i4 i6h5
   . . . o x . o      7.  g6 j5i6   j7 f7e6
  . . . . x . o .     8.  f5 m6k6   resigns
. . . . x . . . .    9.
. . . . . . . . . .  10.
abcdefghijklmnopqrs

A related game is Eugene, designed by Jorge Nuno Silva in 2007:

Played on an empty 5x5 square board.

On each turn a player must drop a friendly stone on an empty cell not attacked by enemy stones; then, if he wishes, slide an enemy stone orthogonally or diagonally over a line of empty cells.

Stones attack cells using the chess knight range.

Any stone may only be moved once during the game.

The last player to move wins the game.

   ___B___  ___J___
1. c3 --    c2 c3c5
2. e2 c2a2  d2 e2e5
3. b1 d2b2  d4 b1e1
4. a1 d4d1  b4 a1c1
5. a1 b4d2  c3 a1b1
6. c2 c3a3  d5 c2e4
7. d4 d5c4  d5 d4e3
8. d4 ----  b4 d4d3
9. d4 b4a5  a1 d3e2  0-1

a b c d e

j B B J B  1
J J . J b  2
J . . , B  3
. . J b B  4
J . B j B  5