SCALUS

Copyright (c) 2000 João Pedro Neto

After seeing Epaminondas, I associate the piece movements with the idea of shifting on 2D. There are another two operations, namely, rotation and scaling. I took the latter and created a new abstract game (perhaps rotation can also be used to create another game...). Besides that connection, Epaminondas is based on the phalanx formation. There are also tactical maneuvers based on square formations, something that will appear in Scalus.

The game is played a board with 19x10 intersections. Each player has 16 stones. There are two pairs of special cells called the Headquarters (Black HQ's at e2 and f2, and White HQ's at e18 and f18). The initial setup follows:

TURNS - Black starts playing. Players may not pass. GOAL - A player wins when he reaches the opponent's Headquarter or captures all opponent stones. SINGLE MOVE - All stones may move one cell (horizontal, vertical or diagonal). A stone moved in this manner may not capture another. GROUP MOVE - Stones can be moved in groups. A group is a rectangle of m.n stones of the same color. All group movements are made by scaling the previous group pattern, possibly around a pivot stone. There are two types of scaling, expansion (the pattern increases its size) and contraction (the pattern decreases its size). Check below for group moves examples and full rules.

Pivot moves

Lines of n stones and squares of n.n stones are special cases of rectangles. The player chooses the pivot stone and scale the structure by two. Seeing from  up to down, there are two line and one square expansions. From down to up, there are three contractions. Every opponent piece inside the destination cells are captured and removed from the game. Any friendly piece on those same cells will abort the expansion/contraction movement. Expanding stone structures may jump other stones. However, contraction is only possible, if there are no friendly pieces in-between (any enemy stones in-between are captured if they stay at some destination cell, or jumped otherwise).

Two more examples: a line of 3 stones with a central pivot, and a 3.2 rectangle. Once again, seeing from up to down means an expansion move, down to up, a contraction move. Notation: For line moves, just state the stones that define that line and include the pivot between ()s.  For rectangle moves, state all four edges including the pivot between ()s.

Special no pivot moves

These are the two special moves where the player does not include the pivot. Two line scaling can also be done on diagonals. No pivot moves are described by appending an empty pair of ()

Move Examples

Black starts with a four line expansion 1. e4-e7(e4) and White with a 3x3 square expansion 1... f15-d15-d13-f13(f15) [diagram 1]. After that, Black makes a single move 2. e8-f9 and White answers with a 3x3 square contraction 2... b11-f11-f15-b15(d11) [diagram 2]. Then Black captures white stone at d11 by expanding his f9-e10 double line, 3. f9-e10(f9) [diagram 3]. Now, White may capture d11 black stone with d13-d12(d13) or d13-d12() or d13-d12-e12-e13(d13) or d13-d12-c12-c13(d13) or even with c13-e13-e12-c12(d13)

Other Patterns[optional rule - not tested]

It's possible to imagine other stone structures that can be scaled. Two examples are the triangle and the cross.