DAGGERS

Copyright (c) 2002 Luke Weisman

This game is played on a 8x8 square board with the following setup:

 
UPHILL & DOWNHILL - "Downhill" refers to the direction towards the "Low player", and "Uphill" refers to the direction towards the "High player".
DAGGER - Daggers slide along the column or diagonals downhill as far as they like, but only one cell uphill or diagonally uphill. 
There is no side movement.
Daggers can capture any piece along the diagonals (going either uphill or downhill) and can capture Crowns (but not Daggers) along the column.
CROWNS - A Crown can move to any (orthogonal or diagonal) adjacent empty cell. A Crown can also capture any enemy piece on any (orthogonal or diagonal) adjacent cell. 
TURN - On each turn, each player moves one of his pieces. The High player moves first.
GOAL - A player wins by capturing an enemy Crown or by moving one of his own Crowns into the opponent's first row.
 
An example

The High player's Dagger at d6 can capture at c7 and f4, but not at d7 or d4 because they are along the column, nor at f8 because a Dagger can only climb uphill one cell. 

If the Daggers at d7 or d4 were Crowns, then the High player's Dagger could capture them and win!

Some words from the author: The Low player must be extremely careful since the High player has a collection of incredibly powerful and mobile pieces due to being on high ground. However, with careful play the Low player can trudge up the slope and with each step her pieces gain in flexibility. The High player must be aggressive, but if he sends his pieces too soon into Low's territory, they get stuck, lose power, and have to climb back up to higher ground. Low, of course, is always eager to trade. Defeat for Low can happen lightning-fast if Low is not careful with defense. In general I find Low to be more difficult to play, until both players gain reasonable competence in the game, and then High begins to require more long-term strategic thinking.