Gamehelpquattuorreges

Overview

Quattuor Reges is a 2 player game played with 32 pieces representing a deck of playing cards (7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A in for suits) on a 17 by 15 board. The suits are divided between the 2 players: ♦ ♥ for the Red player, ♣ ♠ for the Black player. The Red player goes first and can move a single piece according (see Movement section). After the first turn, Black and Red alternatively make up to 2 moves with their pieces each turn, one with each suit. The goal of the game is to reach the opposing last line of the board with a Queen, a King, or an Ace.

Movement

The board spaces are arranged in a hexagonal pattern, with each space occupied by at most single piece at a time. Each piece has a maximum number of steps that it can make during a single movement, each step being to one of the 6 neighboring spaces on a board. Pieces cannot move through occupied space, but they don't necessarily have to move in a straight line. The movement range is 4 spaces for 8s, 3 spaces for 7s and 9s, and 2 spaces for all other pieces. The movement options become restricted if any of the Kings is captured (see Capturing Pieces). If a Queen, a King, or an Ace ends its movement on the last line of the opponent's side of the board, the active player immediately wins.

Capturing Pieces

Opponent pieces can be captured by moving a valid piece to its space. The captured piece is removed from the board (but can be returned to it later, see Rescuing Pieces). The valid captures are as follows:

• Ace capture Courts pieces(J, Q, K) and other Aces
• Courts pieces(J, Q, K) capture Number pieces (7, 8, 9, 10), with an exception that 7 captures J, not vice versa
• Number pieces capture Aces
• Number pieces capture other Number pieces that have smaller value
• Court pieces capture each other in a circular fashion (K -> Q, Q -> J, J -> K)

The capturing piece must stop at the space where the captured piece was, even if it hasn't used all its movement. If an Ace makes a capture, it may retreat to the space it was at the start of the turn for free.

If a King is captured, all other pieces of its suit except Ace cannot be moved until the King is rescued (see Rescuing Pieces). Therefore capturing all opponent's Kings and Aces also results in an immediate victory, as the opponent is out of valid moves.

Rescuing Pieces

Each side of the board has 2 special spaces called Bases. If a piece ends its movement on an opponent's Base, it's immediately captured, but can in return rescue one previously captured piece(including itself). The rescued piece is placed on one of the player's unoccupied Bases. If both Bases are already occupied, no piece is rescued.

A rescued piece cannot move on the same turn even if its suit has not moved yet. However, if a King is rescued and its suit has not moved yet, other piece of that suit immediately become available. If an Ace captures a piece on an opponent Base, it still has an option to retreat without being captured itself.

If a piece other than a Queen, a King, or an Ace ends up on the last line of the opponent's side of the board, it's also immediately captured in the same fashion, but can make up to 2 rescues.

Game End

The game ends immediately once a Queen, a King, or an Ace reaches the last line of the opponent's side of the board, or all Kings and Aces of a single player are captured.