Phalanx Rules Version 2

Pieces:

  1. Game boad
  2. 9 Hoplite marbles for each player
  3. Optional Rogue marble
  4. Optional Monument marble

Objective:

To be the first player to place one of your Hoplites (marbles) on one of your goal location, which immediately ends the game.

Setup:

For each player place 4 Hoplites in the shape of a square as designated by the + icons on their side of the board. The remaining 5 Hoplites are kept in each players Reserve, in the rail surrounding the board.

Life & Death: 2 hoplites are connected if they share an adjacent intersection. 2 or more connected hoplites are considered a living Phalanx. A Hoplite is considered dead if after an action is completed they are no longer connected to another Hoplite, or if they have been pushed off the board (see "push" action below). Dead hoplites are immediately removed and placed back in the players reserve.

Flow of Play:

A turn consists of performing up to 3 actions, the one exception being the the first turn of the player who does not go first, which consists of a bonus 4th action. The same action may be done multiple times.

The possible actions are:

Reenforce

Add a Hoplite in your reserve to an existing Phalanx.

Move

Pick up a Hoplite and place it anywhere connected to its original Hoplite. You may split or merge Phalanx, but Hoplites may not "teleport" to an unconnected Phalanx.

Push

A column consists of 2 or more connected Hoplites in a straight line. When a players column faces an opponents column of lesser length

  1. RENFORCE:
  2. <array 0x557D811E02C0>:
  3. PUSH: if your phalanx is connected to an opponent's, and the number of your hoplites is greater then the opponents in a straight line, and there is an open intersection on the other side of the line, you may slide the whole line towards the opponent's hoplites 1 intersection. Hoplites pushed off the board are dead.

https://cdn.1j1ju.com/medias/c2/b0/3a-abalone-rulebook.pdf

Optional Rules

the Monument

Place the Monument marble anywhere on the game board. The Monument effectively removes that location from the game. It may never be moved, nor may a Hoplite be pushed into it.

Try placing the Monument at or around the center of the board! This may force unique openings, and encourage players to use a higher number of active phalanx.

the Rogue

Place the Rogue marble anywhere on the game board. During your turn the Rogue acts as one of your own pieces. You may perform any of the 3 actions with it as normal. The Rogue is not considered dead if it has no connected Hoplites. However, if the Rogue is pushed of the board it is dead acts as a Hoplite in the reserve of the current player.

Alternatively try placing it away from the center of the board, though note that a Rogue close to the starting Phalanx is a large advantage.