Troop-Chess is an original abstract board game that I developed in December 2017. Games with multiple pieces moving at the same time are rare in the history of abstracts, and I have only found a precedent for Epaminondas Avalon so far (I learned about both games after the development of Collective Formations). In that sense, I consider group jinshengqi to be an independent abstract genre along with Igo and Chaturanga. It also guarantees unlimited development possibilities for the game content.
【Basic Characteristics and Types of Group Formations】
Troop-Chess is a system of defeating a player by piling up his own pieces on his opponent, similar to Chaturanga. However, each piece cannot move by itself and, on the contrary, does not have any meaning (piece value). This is what makes it different from Chaturanga, where each piece is assigned a function (of movement). For this reason, when you play, you should use Go stones, Othello pieces, or anything else that has no character and can at least distinguish between friend and foe.
You can only perform an action (move or attack) when three of your friends form a specific formation (shape). There are five types of formations: straight, pyramidal, oblique, cuneiform, and serpentine.
Each formation (three pieces together) advances one step in all eight directions (back, forth, left, right, left, and right, diagonally) regardless of the formation type.
However, each formation has a directional concept, and the entire formation gains an extra +1 movement compensation (i.e. 2 steps forward) when it faces forward, and the first piece in each formation faces forward and gains an offensive and defensive hardness compensation. The hardness correction is described later. Even though the movement correction is attached, you don't necessarily have to take two steps forward, and it is of course possible to stay at one step.
When you move two steps, you can jump over a friendly piece. However, you can't stay on your ally's piece at the destination.
Explanation of each formation below.
“Straight”
Three vertical or horizontal formations. The top and bottom are symmetrical, so it has two forward directions, and the movement and hardness corrections are also made for both directions.
“Pyramidal”
A protruding piece in the center of the formation is an indicator of the forward direction. Hardness is corrected for the first piece. Based on the shape, there can be a pattern in four directions: up, down, left and right.
“Oblique”
It is a diagonal version of a straight line with three diagonal lines. It has two heads, like a straight line, with movement and hardness correction in both directions.
“Cuneiform”
The direction of the protruding corners will be forward direction, and will also have movement and hardness correction. A pattern in all four directions.
“Serpentine”
Only in this formation, there is no hardness correction for the first piece. However, the entire formation gains +1 movement compensation (2 steps forward) for each of the head pieces (orange) that have a single sickle head and are diagonally inclined in the 3 directions in front of them. It's a low attack power, but it's a movement-specific formation. A total of 8 ways in length and width.
There are 5 types of formations (straight, pyramidal, oblique, cuneiform, serpentine), and you cannot move (or attack) unless you are in one of these formations
As in the existing Chaturanga games, you can stack your own pieces on top of your opponent's pieces to defeat them (and remove them from the board), but you can also defeat not one but several pieces in one move, the number of which depends on the situation. In principle, the offensive side is favored.
【Hardness】
From here, I would like to explain the concept of hardness, which is the key to the rules of group formation chess. This is the axiom of the whole formation game.
Only in the direction in which the movement correction is applied (forward) to the leading piece in each formation will a + hardness correction be applied. This enhanced hardness is useful offensively and defensively, so that it is stronger in this direction of attack and defense (e.g., in the direction of the arrow up the pyramidal line).
Hardness is always +1 for all attackers' formation pieces. Since the defender does not have this, the offensive side has the advantage, and this principle ensures that the game progresses in the same way as Chaturanga, where you can stack your own pieces on top of your opponent's and remove them.
The hardness of each piece in terms of offense and defense is expressed in numerical values.
<Offensive side>
First piece (with hardness correction) = 2
First piece (without hardness correction) = 1
Other pieces = 1
<Defensive side>.
First piece (with hardness correction) = 1
First piece (without hardness correction) = 0
Other pieces = 0
This will be a All unarmed pieces have a hardness of 0.
Value difference 2 is penetrable, 1 is destroyed, and the same value is a tie.
【Example of an offensive and defensive hardness】
1. defeat (hardness difference 1)
For example, in this diagram, the leading pieces in the pyramidal line (offense) and the straight line (defense) collide head-on.Based on the 1 hardness difference between the attacking side's pyramidal line 2 and the defending side's straight line 1, only the first piece of the offending side's straight line is taken.
2. penetration (hardness difference 2)
When attacking from the same pyramidal line formation to a straight line formation (Figure), when attacking from the side, the first piece in the attacking pyramidal line formation has no hardness correction except in the forward direction, and all of the pieces in the attacker's pyramidal line formation have 0 hardness when attacking from the side. Then, by taking 2 steps forward with a +1 movement correction, the subsequent 2 pieces can destroy the remaining 2 pieces with a numerical difference of 1 and annihilate them all in one fell swoop.
3. phase striking (hardness difference 0)
An example of a defender not being beaten unilaterally by an attacker.
For example, as shown in the figure, if a row collides head-on with a wedge-shaped (diagonalized) leading edge with no hardness correction (leading edge), the difference in hardness of 1 in both cases will be 0, and the result will be as follows
(4) Constrained penetration movement of the entire formation by the back pieces without hardness correction.
When the first piece in a formation attacks in front of the opponent, unless it collides with the opponent's first piece in front, it can penetrate the opponent as it is.
Example of a cone to meander attack diagram. Even if the lead piece in the formation with hardness correction has some remaining strength, the entire formation will stop marching in this way because the rear piece does not have penetrating power.
(5) When the hardness correction by multiple formations overlaps with a specific piece
If the enemy's pieces are densely packed, and one piece doubles as the leader of several formations, it can combine hardness in each (formation) direction (when defending). The figure shows an example of hardness correction for the series (upward), cuneiform (upper right) and pyramidal (rightward) formations. The formation hardness correction cannot be overlaid in the same direction (+1 is the maximum).
【Advance special movement of one piece to form a formation and evacuate】
In a group formation game, you cannot move a piece unless you form one of five different formations with three pieces. However, since that would greatly restrict the game progress (which is, of course, a game), you are allowed to make a special move of one step only to one piece in advance. Effective only when forming a formation or retreating to avoid getting in the way of (friendly pieces) where the formation is going.
1.Advance special moves to form a formation
In order to form a formation, one piece joins two pieces 1 square away from each other and can move or attack (by formation) in the same turn immediately after (formation).
An example is Serpentine
2. Pre-special move to shift from an existing formation to another formation.
A piece in an existing formation can move within a single step to form a new formation, which can then be attacked in the same turn.
The figure shows an example of a cuneiform formation from Straight to Cuneiform.
3.A special move to evacuate a friendly piece that exists in the formation's destination.
When you move to a group formation, you can move over your allies, but you cannot stack them on top of each other (in the same square).
However, if the formation is blocked by a friendly piece ahead of you, you can move only one piece in that direction to an empty adjacent square.
In this figure, when you are going to attack your opponent (with a cuneiform formation), you have to move your friendly pieces (pink) to a place where they will not interfere with your advance (in advance).
Formation, change, and evacuation cannot be done at the same time.No more than one move (formation/change and evacuation) can be made at a time.
Also, if the enemy or friendly pieces are in the vicinity, they will be prevented from moving to the location.
【Rules of the game】
1. Conditions for winning and losing
The one who can't move first loses. In other words, the player who cannot move is defeated when the total number of his or her pieces is less than two, or when the pieces are split into pieces to form a (3 piece) formation. If the two players cannot move at the same time, the player with the most pieces left wins, and if there is a tie, the game is a tie.
2.Restrictions on retreat and flank movement from immediately after the start of the game to the first shot
Moving moves toward the rear, diagonally backward or flank are not allowed until the first attack is made by either of them. Only forward, diagonal forward action until the first strike is made. Once either attack has taken place, both sides are free to move in any direction.
3.What to do when the game progress is stalled
If the number of pieces remains unchanged for 4 turns (4 moves for both players), the player with the most pieces wins. The tie is a tie. However, this does not apply from the start of the game until the first attack is made (from the start until the first attack, there is no limit to the number of turns).
4. initial board layout
In group formation, there is no difference in the functions of individual pieces, so you can choose how you want to place them initially. However, the basic shape of a 3×9 arrangement (leftmost figure) is relative to each other.
【Other practical aspects】
1.About the possibility of the first move
In shogi, the number of possible first moves is 30, and in go, the number of possible first moves is 100 if board symmetry is excluded, but in Troop-Chess, the size of the board is 9×9, and the number of pure first moves without board symmetry is nearly 300. I had just confirmed that there were 178 patterns in the four formations of series, pyramid, oblique, and cuneiform, and I gave up halfway through because of the sheer number of patterns in the serpentine formations, but there is no doubt that there are nearly 300 patterns.
2.formation characteristics
Vertical (straight, pyramidal) and oblique (slanting, cuneiform) formations are weak against each other, and can be destroyed in a flash if they are attacked by the opponent's formations with compensating effects. Also, even in the same vertical and diagonal formations, there is still no way to resist attacks from the side or back. This is where the concept of formation direction is successfully reflected in the tactical gameplay. Also, the meandering squad comes in handy late in the game.
3.The Importance of Logistics
In Chaturanga games such as Shogi and Chess, strong pieces such as Futurama and Queen can dive deep into the opponent's power and compete with them. However, in Jinchouki, if the formation is broken or if there are no allies in the immediate vicinity to form the formation, the player is in a formationless state and cannot move at all, and even loses his defensive ability. In this way, when you attack an opponent's camp, you should always be aware of the contact with your allies behind you. Also, as you advance more and more pieces in the vanguard, some pieces will appear at the edge or corner with less than 2 pieces and will not be able to form a formation, so you need to send reinforcements to the edge or corner to regroup your troops. In this logistics area, the meandering formation, which has no hardness correction, but has a lot of mobility and variation in formation direction, will help a lot.
4.shaping the game of go
It is also possible to create a "Chess-problem" style problem. The figure example is the black number.
