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Epaminondas is a
strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " a ...
board game A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...
invented by Robert Abbott in 1975. The game is named after the Theban general
Epaminondas Epaminondas (; ; 419/411–362 BC) was a Greeks, Greek general and statesman of the 4th century BC who transformed the Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek polis, city-state of Thebes, Greece, Thebes, leading it out of Spartan subjugation into a pre ...
, known for the use of
phalanx The phalanx (: phalanxes or phalanges) was a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar polearms tightly packed together. The term is particularly used t ...
strategy in combat. The concept of the phalanx is integral to the game. Epaminondas was originally introduced in
Sid Sackson Sid Sackson (February 4, 1920 in Chicago – November 6, 2002) was an American board game designer and collector, best known as the creator of the business game ''Acquire''. Career Sackson's most popular creation is probably the business game '' ...
's ''
A Gamut of Games A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient ...
'' as '' Crossings''. While the original version used an 8×8 checkerboard, the current game uses a 12×14 board and different rules for capture. When published, it claimed to be one of the first modern games to acknowledge the name of its inventor in its rules.


Phalanx

In the game, a ''phalanx'' is a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line of two or more stones of the same color, with no empty spaces or enemy stones between them. A stone may belong to more than one phalanx, depending on the direction considered.


Rules


Moves

White moves first; then turns alternate. * A player can move a single piece one space in any direction (the same as a king in
chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
). * A player can, instead, move a phalanx any number of spaces equal to or less than the number of pieces in the phalanx. All the pieces in the phalanx must all move in the same direction, and that direction must be along the ''line'' of the phalanx. (For example, a phalanx of three stones along a diagonal can move three, two, or one spaces along that diagonal.) ** A player does not have to move an entire phalanx; the player can ''split'' the phalanx into two parts as long as the subset moved is continuous and moves no further than its length. ** A phalanx cannot move through or across pieces of the same color. * To keep the game from ending in a draw due to copycat moves, there is an additional rule: no player may move a piece onto their opponent's home row if that move creates a pattern of left-to-right symmetry on the board.


Captures

Only phalanxes can make captures. Capturing is never compulsory. The head piece of a phalanx may land on an enemy stone if the number of the following opponent's stones, in the direction of the phalanx movement and including the stone directly hit, is strictly smaller than the number of stones in the moving phalanx. In that case, those opponent's stones are captured. This means, a phalanx of length ''n'' may capture up to ''n-1'' stones.


Winning

A player wins when, at the start of their turn, they have strictly more pieces on their opponent's home row than the opponent has on the player's home row. (To clarify, if at the beginning of Black's turn, Black has more pieces on row A than White has on row Z, Black wins. If at the beginning of White's turn, White has more pieces on row Z than Black has on row A, White wins.) This allows an opponent the chance to capture some of the offending stones on the turn after an incursion, or to counterattack on the opposite side of the board.


Further reading

* *


Reception

''
Games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...
'' magazine included ''Epaminondas'' in their "Top 100 Games of 1980", noting that "It comes in a beautiful edition that makes watching the shifting board position all the more enjoyable."


Reviews

*''
Games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...
'' #4 *''Games & Puzzles''


References


External links

*{{bgg, 7338, Epaminondas Abstract strategy games Board games introduced in 1975 Games played on Go boards