Games of Kings and Soldiers

SUPPORT

Copyright (c) 2002 João Pedro Neto

This game is played on a 9x9 square board with the following setup:

BASES - Each player owns four bases displayed on the setup.

White has the Yellow bases, Black has the Blue bases.

TURNS - At each turn, each player must do one of the following things:

Insert a stone;

Move a stone by support;

Capture a stone by insertion or support.

INSERT - A stone is inserted into a cell adjacent to the board of the edge (excluding corners).

If the cell is occupied by a friendly stone, this stone is pushed on a direction into the board (i.e., forward towards the center of the board, of one of the two possible diagonals). This means that after the push, the stone increases the distance from the used edge.

If the pushed stone moves into a cell occupied by another friendly stone, this one is also pushed in the same direction, and so on.

MOVE - A stone adjacent to a friendly base can be moved to any empty cell adjacent to any stone that belongs to a connected (orthogonal or diagonal) group of friendly stones that touches that base.

CAPTURE - A player can capture, if:

when inserting a stone, one of the pushed stones moves into a cell occupied by an enemy stone, this one is captured (and the pushing stops).

in a support move, the moved stone lands in a cell occupied by a enemy stone, capturing it.

GOAL - A player wins if he gets one of the following goals:

Control at least 5 cells inside the 3x3 central area for one turn (both players move, and the majority still holds); or

Capture 18 enemy stones (approx. one quarter of the initial empty cells).

An insert example
Black inserts a stone at e1, pushing the marked black stone. This one may be pushed diagonally to cells [1] or [2], or push both black stones upward to cell [3].
Of course, this is the same as dropping directly the stone at [1], [2] or [3].

A support move
The white stone at b8 can be moved to any empty cell adjacent to the 2 stone group, for e.g., to cell [1].
Also, the stone at c6 could also be moved to cell [2] or to any other adjacent empty cell of stone b8.

Capturing
White can make a support capture, moving b8 into the marked black stone.
Black can make an insert capture, by pushing a new black stone upwards, thru cell d1.

	An insert example Black inserts a stone at e1, pushing the marked black stone. This one may be pushed diagonally to cells [1] or [2], or push both black stones upward to cell [3]. Of course, this is the same as dropping directly the stone at [1], [2] or [3].
	A support move The white stone at b8 can be moved to any empty cell adjacent to the 2 stone group, for e.g., to cell [1]. Also, the stone at c6 could also be moved to cell [2] or to any other adjacent empty cell of stone b8.
	Capturing White can make a support capture, moving b8 into the marked black stone. Black can make an insert capture, by pushing a new black stone upwards, thru cell d1.