Latrunculi is an ancient Roman game, played by the owners ("
Lanistas") of the Gladiators schools ("
Ludus").
I spotted it on the TV one day and did lots of research and found the most common rules and set up.
I then set about making a board out of a little hardboard. Then I made some 'Kings' from some little cubes of wood. They should have been Pyramids but I couldn't find anything like that as yet.
The 'stones' proved difficult to find, so I resorted to using actual stones. It took HOURS combnig the local beach for x12 of each in the same colors / sizes and shapes, but I got some that will do the job.
Heres the rules...
Latrunculi
Name of Game: Latrunculi - Version Two,
with 12 Soldiers and 1 King per Player.
Origin of Game: Ancient Rome,
before 27 B.C.
Players: 2
Pieces: Each player has 12 round pieces (soldiers), and 1 king of a different shape. One black set, one white.
Board Design: A 12x8 rectangle.
Objective: Capture all opponents soldiers or trap the king.
How to Play:
The board is set up as illustrated (right). The king is placed in front of his
soldiers just right of centre. The kings are not directly opposite each other.
Either player may go first. Future games rotate starters.
Players take turns moving their game
pieces. A player moves one of his pieces, (either a soldier or a king), any
number of spaces in the horizontal or vertical direction. A game piece may not
jump another game piece.
The objective is to capture one or
more of your opponent's soldiers between two of your soldiers or king in either a horizontal or vertical row, (not diagonal).
When a soldier (or soldiers in a line) is captured it is removed. Edges cannot
be used to capture, only immobilize the king. A stone in the corner can be
captured by two stones placed across the corner.
In the illustration, each white soldier with an
“X” mark has been captured. Several soldiers in a row can also be captured.
However if the king is in the same row (shown in red) none are captured.
If the king is surrounded by pieces
so the king cannot move in any direction, then the king has been captured and
the game is over. Eg. In the illustration, if the round white soldier moves in
the direction of the arrow then the black king will be surrounded and the game
will be over. The black king will have been trapped by two of its own soldiers
and by one white soldier. This rule changes the focus of the game from capturing
enemy stones to cornering the king with clever forcing moves and can make for
sudden victory, even by an outnumbered force.
The only way to capture an opponent's piece is when
it is your move. You can safely move one of your pieces between two of your opponent's
pieces and your piece will not be considered captured since it was your move.
Winning: There are three ways to win.
- Capture all twelve of the opponents
soldiers.
- Surround the other player's king and so
it cannot move.
- If the game stalemates, the player with
the most captured enemy stones wins.
Sequences
of plays that repeat endlessly must be prohibited (this is usually obvious to
both players after two series of moves repeats -- any move initiating a third
repeating series of moves is illegal).
