Three and four player version of the classic game. Published by Jumbo International.Rules translation by Chris Mellor. Transcription by Andy Daglish.

Components

• 1 board
• 80 game pieces in four colour sets
• 4 flags
• 4 recruitment cards with plastic sliders
• 1 castle

Object of the Game

The first player to place his flag on top of the castle wins.

Setup

Players set up as they wish within their respective start zones. The recruitment cards start with the slider on zero. These show the scale of ranks, in combat higher numbers beat lower numbers.

One playing piece is placed on each space. The illustrated middle space [the recruitment space] remains unoccupied. The flag is placed on whichever piece occupies the flag start space. Youngest player begins. Play proceeds clockwise.

Game Play

In his turn a player either moves one piece or attacks a rival piece.

Rules for Movement

A piece can move one space orthogonally.

No piece can move diagonally.

No piece can jump over another piece.

No piece can move into or jump over a lake.

The castle consists of two areas each of which counts as one space: the outer ring and the central turret. Only one piece can stand on the outer ring at one time.

Each piece can move between the outer ring and any of the surrounding board spaces, or from these spaces to an unoccupied outer ring.

No piece can move more than five times consecutively between the same two spaces.

The middle spaces in start zones are the recruitment spaces. At start these remain empty but may be occupied after the game begins.

Attacking

A piece can attack an adjacent rival piece [not diagonally].

Attacks may be made between the outer ring of the castle and the surrounding spaces.

The player who attacks places his piece next to the defender. Both players declare the rank/number of their pieces. The piece with the lower rank/number is removed from the board. If the attacker wins he occupies the defenders space. If the defender wins he remains on his space.

A winner of an engagement may advance his recruitment card slider one position higher along the card.

If the attacker and defender are of the same rank, both lose and are removed from the board. [Presumably no movement of sliders occurs].

Pieces which have been removed from the board may be inspected by rivals.

Special Characteristics of Pieces

Captain Rank 6. He can move two spaces and change direction after the first space. Only one rival piece may be attacked per move. He cannot move after attacking successfully on his first space of movement.

Scout Rank 3. He can move over any number of empty clear board spaces [not lake, castle, nor occupied spaces] in a straight line. After such a move the scout may attack.

Spy rank 2. If the Spy attacks the Field Marshal [on the spy's turn only], the Field Marshal loses.

Cannon Rank 1. An attacking cannon defeats any other piece. Cannon fire at occupied spaces exactly three spaces distant in a straight line.

The two spaces over which a cannon fires may not be occupied nor can they be part of the castle. Fire is allowed over lakes. They may fire at a castle space but not over it.

After a cannon has fired and the target rival piece has been removed, the cannon is also removed.

The Flags. Each piece may carry the flag, but the flag carrier may move only one space. If the flag carrier is removed, the flag is captured by a winning piece or it remains in position alone, without a carrier. Any piece that enters a space occupied by an abandoned flag may take it. You may voluntarily abandon any flag.

Recruitment

There are two situations in which a player may recruit one of his own pieces:

1. At the beginning of the game each player places his recruitment card slider on the zero position. After each attack the winner [attacker or defender] can move his slider along by one value. As soon as the slider reaches "VI", the player may immediately recruit.

2. If a piece captures a rival flag by removing its carrier, the owner may recruit. The same applies to retrieving a voluntarily abandoned flag, but not to a flag lost to a cannon shot or lost as a result of mutual destruction.

Recruitment is carried out as follows: a previously removed piece is placed on the recruitment space. If the recruitment space is occupied at that moment, the recruitment opportunity is lost and the piece may not be placed at that time. If the slider is on the "VI" position it is moved back to "0".

End of Game

As soon as a player moves one of his pieces with his own flag onto the tower of the castle, the game ends immediately. This player has won.

Three-Player Game

The only difference is that the castle outer ring is surrounded by 9 spaces rather than 12.

Variant

Team play is possible with partners facing each other in a four-player game. Either flag wins for the owning team.

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