Six years ago (crazy how long ago that is!) I created an abstract board game called Phalanx. I still think about it, and teach it to friends when I get the chance. One of my goals this summer is to build a fancy wooden Phalanx board that uses marbles for the play pieces (more on that in a later post), and in general make the game more "official".

The actual game's rules have changed very little over the years, which in my opinion is actually really cool! It means the game is possibly fun and complete. However how I explain the rules has definitely changed, so here's an updated ruleset to hold you over when I learn how to use a router.

Pieces:

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

Game Board Layout:

The board is a 9x9 grid with the corners removed.

• ⬛/🟥/🟩: Playable space
• ➕: Starting positions of players pieces
• 🟥: Player 1 goal positions
• 🟩: Player 2 goal positions

  🟩⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
🟩➕➕⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛➕➕⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛➕➕⬛
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛➕➕🟥
  ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛🟥

Objective:

To be the first player to place a living Hoplites (Marble) on one of your goal locations, immediately ending the game.

If a player has no Hoplites on the board, they also immediately lose.

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 player's Reserve, in the rail surrounding the board.

Life, Death & other Terms:

Hoplites are touching if they share an adjacent orthogonal intersection. 2 Hoplites are connected if they share a color and are touching, and a group of connected Hoplites is called 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 from the board and placed back in the players reserve.

A Rank consists of 2 or more connected Hoplites in a straight line along the board's orthogonal grid (no diagonal lines).

Flow of Play:

Players take turns performing a number of actions, with the player who goes first performing 2 actions on their opening turn, then alternate 3 actions per turn. After each action resolve Hoplite Life & Death, then check if the game is over. The same action may be performed multiple times, or no times at all during a turn.

The 3 possible actions are...

1. Reenforce

Place a Hoplite from your reserve on the board connected to an existing Phalanx.

2. Move

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

3. Push

When one of your Ranks has more Hoplites then an opponents Rank it is connected to, you may push the whole line 1 space. The opponent's Hoplites must be either pushed into an open space, or off the board. This allows you to isolate and kill your opponents pieces!

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 (WIP and unbalenced!)

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 off the board it is dead and 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.

Hopefully my next Phalanx related post will be me cataloging the build process of the board, or alternatively me explaining how I sawed my fingers off.