Crows & Owls 1977

Crows & Owls is a grand strategic game of conflict between states in ancient India (prior to the founding of the Mauryan empire in the third century BCE).

The emphasis of the game is more economic and political than military. Players must give a great deal of attention to development of their kingdoms - in addition to raising military units and building forts, they can build new plantations and villages, improve roads, and exploit timber and mineral resources. Politically, they must track the relations their kingdom has with each of the other 15 kingdoms on the map (a record sheet is provided for this purpose) - there are six possible relations two kingdoms can have with each other, following the description of Kautilya, a great Indian political theorist. The military sphere is not neglected, as there are fairly elaborate rules for invasion of other kingdoms, battles, and sieges.

Additional rules include those for monarch abilities, monarch death, and the famous Indian horse sacrifice.

The winner at the end of the game is the player with the greatest percentage increase in their resource levels.

Crows & Owls was produced by the author in a fairly small edition - an article in Simulacrum magazine put the total at 95 copies.