Elements of the Board

"Queen Indicator Hexagons"

The three brown hexagons at three of the corners of the board pointed out by the 2 red arrows are the "Queen Indicator" hexgons. A Queen is always located four spaces from these "Queen Indicator" hexagons at the beginning of play.

"Sovereignty Lines"

The three arrows pictured near the center of the board point to the Magenta, Green and Blue Territorial "Sovereignty Lines". The "Sovereignty Lines" are important in two aspects: they determine how a pawn may or may not move at a particular moment, and they determine whether a player's pieces may enter a territory, depending on whether an active King for that territory still exists on the board.

Walls

The Walls at each of the six corners (the four or five multicolored "mountain-like" areas pictured here) may not be entered or passed over by any piece or pawn at any time. On a standard board, they are represented by an absence of hexagons except for the location of the smaller "Queen Indicator" hexagon.

Location of Pieces

Pieces are located as illustrated to the left. A hexagon grid requires three Bishops, and two Bishops are placed next to the Rooks rather than between the Knights and the King and Queen. To prevent development (moving forward) of the Bishops without movement of a Pawn, the primary structure of Pawns (6) is located one rank "removed" from the Pieces. One Pawn is positioned directly in front of each Rook (these are two of the "White Dot" Pawns included in each set of color pieces). The "Sovereign Bishop" is also protected and prevented from development prior to the movement of a Pawn by the third "White Dot" Pawn located directly in front of it (see the Brown Territory Pawn structure to the right for locations).

PAWN

Pawn Movement:

A pawn moves through the side of a hexagon to the next open hexagon. A pawn must initially move away from the edge of the board until it crosses its own "Line of Soverignty". In the center area of the board, a pawn may move in any direction. Once a pawn crosses an opponent's "Line of Sovereignty" it must move toward the edge of the board, toward promotion.

How Pawns Capture:

A pawn captures through the corner of a given hexagon (replacing the opponent pawn or piece it captures). A pawn only captures for a distance of a single space removed from its position.

"Passing Pawn" Capture:

The first time a particular pawn is moved, that pawn may be moved forward one space or two spaces. If a pawn moves two spaces forward on its first move, and an opponent pawn could (on that opponent's next move only) have captured that particular pawn had it been moved only one space forward, that opponent may capture the pawn as though the pawn had only moved forward a single space (by replacing the captured pawn on that space with the capturing pawn).

Note: Technically, a pawn is not a piece. Only Knights, Bishops, Rooks, the Queen and the King are pieces. This "reduced status" is accorded to the pawn as a direct result of the pawn's theoretical state of possessing relatively "low value". The pawn, however, is also capable of attaining promotion, so it is seldom wise to consider a pawn "completely" expendable in any play. The usual promotion secures a Queen, but occasionally a potential "mate" will secure promotion of a pawn to a Knight. In chess, results are King. All else is a tactic, a strategy or some element of hope. Hope, allied by clear thought, can bring about the considered impossibility of a victory, even with the "lowly" unpromoted pawn.

KNIGHT

Movement and Capture

The Knight moves and captures in a method different from any other piece. The Knight moves one space through the corner of a hexagon, then one space through the side of the next hexagon, always moving away from its starting point. The movement looks similar to either the right or left half of the letter "y". Because this movement is unique, the Knight appears to move through spaces occupied by other pieces. Technically, however, the Knight actually is said to move "between" the spaces to accomplish its unique method of movement and capture.

Bishop

Movement and Capture

The Bishop moves and captures through the corners of adjoining hexagons. The Bishop may move a single space--or as many spaces as are clear of any pawns or pieces. If the first piece or pawn a Bishop encounters belongs to an opponent, the Bishop may capture it by taking its place on the hexagon.

Rook

Movement and Capture

The Rook moves and captures through the sides of adjoining hexagons. The Rook may move a single space-or as many spaces as are clear of any pawns or pieces. If the first piece or pawn a Rook encounters belongs to an opponent, the Rook may capture it by taking its place on that hexagon.

KING

Movement and Capture

The King moves and captures through the sides and the corners. Thus the King has the opportunity to move in as many as twelve potential directions. The King may move only the distance of a single space. The King cannot move onto a space which is exposed to the direct force of an opponent. When it is exposed to the direct force of an opponent, the King must be moved at the first available opportunity. If the force of an opponent cannot be blocked or eliminated, and the King cannot be moved, the King is in "mate" and is removed from the game.

Castling

A King that is not immediately under attack may "Castle". Castling is the only move that occurs in chess where two pieces are moved at one time and both pieces remain on the board. In Castling, the King is always moved first, and is moved two spaces to the left or two spaces to the right on the first rank. The Rook the King moves toward is then placed on the opposite side of the King from where the Rook started.

Before Castling occurs, all of the spaces between the King and the Rook must be cleared of all pawns or pieces, and none of those spaces may be exposed to the direct attack of an opponent. Both the King and the Rook must not be under the direct force of an opponent when Castling occurs.

Queen

Movement and Capture

The Queen moves and captures through the sides and the corners. Thus the Queen has the opportunity to move in as many as twelve potential directions. The Queen may move a single space--or the Queen may move as many spaces as are clear of any pawns or pieces. If the first piece or pawn a Queen encounters belongs to an opponent, the Queen may capture it by taking its place on the board.

The Queen is always initially located four spaces from the Queen Locator Hexagons (the three small hexagons located at three of the corners of the board).

General Rules of Play:

Play begins with Red and moves clockwise around the board. Players may select as many sets as is agreeable to all players. When a King is "mated", the King is removed from the board and its pieces remain as obstacles until removed by another active player.

When a King is "mated", any opponent piece in that King's territory must move toward exiting that territory in any move it makes, with the exception of directly capturing another active opponent's piece. Any pawn located in a "mated" King's territory is forfeit at that moment of "mate" and is immediately removed from the board.

Notation

Notation of play is accomplished by noting the file (e.g., King's Knight) and rank (e.g., four). The ranks range from one to ten (ten being the center hexagon of the board). The hexagons between the Walls and the Center of the board are numbered similar to their adjoining hexagons (that is, the first playable hexagon in front of a Wall is on the sixth rank). Designation of a particular Wall hexagon begins by referring to the territorial color to the right of a wall (e.g., Blue Wall Seven refers to the Wall located to the left of the Blue Territory, the second playable hexagon toward the center of the board).

Because of the unique matrix of hexagons, each hexagon could appear to share two files. The hexagon in front of the King Rook (above, right) could conceivably be erroneously considered as King Bishop Two. Care must be taken in this regard to avoid confusion.

Of note, however, is that the Color hexagon in a territory, and the hexagons which are reachable between that hexagon and the Center of the board, by either a Bishop move or a "Pawn Capture" move, do share two proper files. The Color hexagon above, therefore, could be properly referred to as Blue King Two or Blue Queen Two. It could also be properly referred to as Blue Color One. Similarly, King Knight Four and Queen Knight Four are the same hexagon, King Bishop Six is the same hexagon as Queen Bishop Six, and King Rook Eight is the same hexagon as Queen Rook Eight.

Pawn Designation

Pawns are designated according to their affiliation with Pieces as noted above. There is no King Pawn or Queen Pawn. The Pawn directly in front of the Sovereign Bishop is the "Sovereign Bishop Pawn" and the Pawns in front of the Rooks are known as "Sovereign Rook Pawns". The Sovereign Pawns are the White Dot Pawns in a color set to enable discerning whether a specific Pawn has or has not been moved from its initial hexagon (in consideration of a Pawn's "One Move or Two Move" option on its first move).

Scoring

Scoring of Play is accomplished by noting the value of the Pawn or Piece (P=1, S=2, B=3, R=4, Q=5, K=6) and the value of the hexagon the piece is on (Ranks 1-10) when the piece is removed from the board due to capture or mate. Any player active when a piece is captured has the value of that piece plus the value of the hexagon it was located on added to that player's score. The total value of a game is obtained by adding all the players' final values together when the game is finished.

It is worthy to note that Knight's have a slightly reduced value in this game.

Emperor and Team Play

Two, three, four, five or six players may play on a board. When only two players start play, they may agree prior to beginning that pawns may not move "backward" at any time, or they may agree that the Pawns may move and capture in all directions when in the central area of the board. Either agreement, however, must be made before the game commences or the game must be terminated on disagreement and started anew.

When more than two players start the game on the board, Pawns move omnidirectionally in the central area of the board.

Teams may be formed prior to the beginning of play. The possibilities are two teams of three players, three teams of two players, and two teams of two players. Alignment is as decided by players before the game begins, but play always proceeds clockwise around the board.

Emperor is the designation for players possessing more than one territory at the beginning of play. Each player may possess two or three territories, as desired. A player is eliminated when all of that player's Kings are mated. When a specific King is mated, that King's pieces remain on the board as obstacles until removed, but may not be played. When a King is mated, any opponent Pawn in that territory, moving toward promotion, is forfeit at the moment of the mate.