- Decided on a 91 space hexagonal board (see below for reasoning)
- Assigned methods of movement to pieces
- Assigned strength ratings to pieces similar to stratego
- Developed rules for flanking to allow weaker pieces the ability to capture stronger ones
- Decided Mountains count as a piece (it's not clear in the books)
The game is played on a checkered hexagonal board with 6 spaces per side, adding up to 91 spaces total. Before the game begins, a curtain is placed in the middle of the board to prevent players from seeing their opponent's side of the board (draw a line from one corner to it's opposite to find the middle). You then place your pieces on your side of the curtain in secret. You may not make an impassable mountain chain. Mountain chains must have at least 1 gap.
(For help visualizing movement, refere to http://www.chessvari.../hexagonal.html ) Each player starts with the following pieces
9 Mountains: Stationary, Impassable by most pieces
1 King: Strength 1; Can move one space either orthogonally or diagonally.
1 Dragon: Strength 5; Can move any distance in any direction in a straight line (like a queen); May fly over mountains but not other pieces.
2 Elephant: Strength 4; Moves Orthogonally any distance in a straight line (like a rook)
2 Heavy Horse: Strength 3; Moves Diagonally any distance in a straight line (like a bishop)
2 Light Horse: Strength 2; Moves up to 2 spaces Orthogonally.
2 Trebuchet: Strength 1; Moves Orthogonally any distance in a straight line; Trumps Dragon; May fly over a single piece (including mountain) when capturing.
4 Spearman: Strength 1; Moves one space Orthogonally; Trumps Light Horse and Heavy Horse
6 Crossbowman: Strength 1; Moves one space Orthogonally; May capture things 2 spaces away in a straight line, may fly over a non-mountain piece when capturing.
10 Rabble: Strength 1; Moves one space Orthogonally
You may only capture a piece by using a piece with equal or higher strength, except in the case of Trumps. Any piece capable of trumping another may capture that piece without aid regardless of strength and can't itself be captured by that piece. For example, a spearman can always capture a light horse. A light horse can never capture a spearman.
You may add the strength of any pieces you have orthogonally adjacent to an opponent's to the Strength of the piece you use to try and capture it. For example: If a light horse has 2 Rabble adjacent to it, one of the rabble may capture the light horse because it adds the strength of the other adjacent rabble to it's own. 1+1=2
You win the game by capturing the opponent's King. You must declare anytime your pieces threaten your opponent's King, giving them a chance to prevent capture.
You also win the game if you are able to capture all of your opponent's pieces other than their King, leaving them defenseless and without a kingdom.
The books clearly mention squares so why a Hexagonal board?
There are two reasons why I decided on a hexagonal board.
First, there is justification in the games that inspired Cyvasse, one of which is a game called Blitzkrieg. Blitzkrieg uses a hexagonal map yet referes to the individual hexes as "squares". This justifies the characters in the books refering to Cyvasse hexes as squares. Rules for Blitzkrieg can be found at http://www.vassaleng..._1965_Rules.zip . Refere to section 1.0 the mapboard for describing the hexes as squares officially.
Second, the books mention that Cyvasse makes use of three different colors of squares. A checkered square board only uses two colors, but a checkered hexagonal board uses three colors. Granted, I don't think there is ever mention that the board is actually checkered, but I believe it is a fair assumption.
In the end though, there's not enough information provided from the books to acurately describe the board, so I made a decission.
Edited by Zuberi, 03 November 2011 - 11:30 PM.