''Battle Sheep'' is a 2010

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a ...

developed by

Francesco Rotta Francesco, the Italian language, Italian (and original) version of the personal name "Francis (given name), Francis", is the List of most popular given names, most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: Pe ...

. It has been published by

Blue Orange Games Blue Orange Games is a board game company based in San Francisco, California. They have been publishing and promoting award-winning games for over 18 years. The company was founded in 1999 by Thierry Denoual and Juilen Mayot. The company is kno ...

, HUCH! & friends and Lautapelit.fi.

Rules

''Battle Sheep'' is a game for two to four players. It is played on a

hexagon In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°. Regular hexagon A ''regular hexagon'' h ...

al grid representing a pasture. The board is made up by connecting four parts of the grid. Configurations of the board are set either randomly or by players taking turns placing pieces together until a full board is formed. The board must remain connected but may contain holes. The board may be recreated or kept constant through multiple games (It is recommended to create a smaller board layout in order to keep the individual games shorter). Each player receives sixteen

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated sh ...

of a specific color and places them all, in a stack, on any free hexagon at the edge of the board. On a player's turn, the player takes as many sheep from their own stack as they wish (provided that at least one sheep stays in place), and moves them in any direction as far as they can go, until they hit the edge of the board or other sheep. This causes the stacks to divide and the sheep to take up more space on the pasture. The play then proceeds cycling through the players, eventually skipping players who are unable to move any of their sheep. The game ends when none of the players can move, at which point the player whose sheep take up the most space on the board wins. Typically when playing with a constant board, multiple games are played. Each game won equals one point for the winning player. By the end of a preset amount of games, which ever player has the highest points wins the overall game.

MSO

Battle Sheep has featured in the

Mind Sports Olympiad The Mind Sports Olympiad (MSO) is an annual international multi-disciplined competition and festival for games of mental skill and mind sports. The inaugural event was held in 1997 in London with £100,000 prize fund''Mind Sports Olympiad Su ...

Reception

Battle Sheep won multiple awards : * 2022 Weaver Foundation Best Abstract Game Winner * 2022 Weaver Foundation Best Abstract Game Nominee * 2015 Årets Spil Best Family Game Winner * 2015 Årets Spil Best Family Game Nominee * 2014 Vuoden Peli Family Game of the Year Winner * 2014 Spiel des Jahres Recommended * 2014 Spiel der Spiele Hit für Familien Recommended * 2014 Lys Enfant Finalist

References

{{reflist Abstract strategy games Board games introduced in 2010