Alea evangelii (game)

Alea evangelii is a member of the Tafl family of games. It is featured in the first episode of Games Britannia called "Dicing with Destiny" where a game board is discovered in an Iron Age grave. It also brings to mind Hermann Hesse and his magnum opus - The Glass Bead Game

1 Object
2 Equipment
3 Setup
4 Gameboard
5 Gameplay
6 Notes
7 See also

Object

Black player - Capture the King.
White player - Sail the King to a corner. (A1 A19 S1 S19)
- EXCEPTION: In a situation in which the Black Player has blocked all four corners of the gameboard, the White Player needs only to sail the King to the edge of the gameboard to win the game.

Equipment

1 19x19 gameboard
1 King ship (white)
72 basic ships (24 white and 48 black)

Setup

See the diagram for a picture of the placement. The pieces are all placed on the board in a pattern. The King is placed in the middle with the white pieces surrounding it. The black pieces are then placed in the area between the white pieces and the end of the board on all sides.

Gameboard

The game is played on a 19x19 grid.
The intersection J10 is the Castle.
The intersections A1-2-18-19 B1-2-18-19 R1-2-18-19

S1-2-18-19 are Citadels.

This can be one of the Games played with Go equipment.

Gameplay

The Black Player takes the first turn of the game.
A player must move one ship on a turn.
If a player cannot move one ship they lose a turn.

Movement

Ships move orthogonally any number of intersections.
No ship can move onto or through an occupied intersection.

The King is the only ship that can move onto or through the Castle.

The King is the only ship that can move onto or through the Citadels.

Capturing a basic ship

A ship can only be captured on the enemy's turn by the enemy ship moved on that turn.
A ship is captured by an enemy ship when it becomes surrounded on two opposite sides by adjacent enemy ships.

(The Castle and Citadels are considered white ships for the purpose of capturing a black ship.)

The King cannot be one of the ships used in the capturing of an enemy ship.

Capturing the King

The King is captured:
- If the King becomes surrounded on all four sides by enemy ships.
- If the King becomes surrounded on three sides by enemy ships when positioned on the edge of the game board.

End of the game

The Black Player wins the game if the King is captured.
The White Player wins the game if the King sails to a corner.
- EXCEPTION: In a situation in which the Black Player has blocked all four corners of the gameboard, the White Player needs only to sail the King to the edge of the gameboard to win the game.

Notes

A novice player in the role of white will generally win versus a novice player in the role of black.
An expert player in the role of white will generally lose versus an expert player in the role of black.