I have recently adapted an old board game that i thought others might enjoy. Its a tactical game called blockade. Its easy to learn and can be quite competitive between two acomplished players. The rules are as follows...
The game of blockade is played on a rectangular playing area, generally with an even long side and an odd smaller side. The size of the pitch is up to you, but larger than 11x16 or smaller than 7x10 may cause trouble. Normally it is played on a 9x14 area.
The game is played with two sets of bagballs, a starting tile, and a token.
The starting tiles are placed 2 paces in from the short side of the field, in the middle, with an even number of spaces between them.
The aim of the game is to get your token from your own start tile to your opponents start tile.
Each turn you move your tile one pace north, south, east or west. The token cannot move diagonally, nor can it move onto bagballs.
After you have moved your tile, you place a bagball anywhere on the field you like. You must however, always leave an open route to your home tile.
If two tiles meet each other on the field, one may jump over the other to the tile behind, assuming there is a free space behind the token being jumped. If there is not, then the token whos turn it is must move out of the way.
Further rules:
- When starting the game, the learning or least experienced player goes first. Barring that, the challenger goes first (If someone plays and wins, and then plays a new contestant, that new-comer goes first)
- On the first turns, the players may not place a bagball directly next to the starting tile, either next to or diagonally next to it.
- The bandages are out of bounds, however if there are space constraints then they may be used as game-space.
Wagers:
Normally wagers are based on how many tiles the loser has lost by. So if the bet is set at 10 crowns, and the loser is one tile away from winning when his opponent wins, then the wager is still 10 crowns. However is the loser has 5 or even 12 tiles left to go before reaching the opponents start tile, then the wager is multiplied by that number of tiles to 50 crowns or 120 crowns respectively. So be careful with your wagers.
Sets:
Blockade sets are made up of 15 bagballs each.
(I use 15 facing one direction and 15 facing the other to make them more distinguished.)
2 peices of cloth for the start tile
(Dyed the same colour as the bagballs.)
1 peice of cloth for the token
(Dyed a slightly darker or lighter shade of the colour of the bagballs, so that it does not stack with the start tile.)
Have fun playing Blockade!
- Signed Salick Kaysen
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