Stawn 2023

Stawn is a territory game for two players: Black and White. It is played on the spaces (cells) of an initially empty hexagonal grid of hexagons (board). Each player has access to a sufficient supply of stones and pawns of their own color.

PlayBlack plays first, then turns alternate. On your turn, perform exactly one of these actions:

Place a friendly pawn on an empty cell. Move a friendly pawn one or more cells in a straight line, without jumping over enemy pieces. (Jumping over friendly pieces is allowed.) After moving a pawn, place a friendly stone on the cell from which the pawn was moved or on one of the empty cells it traversed. The pawn must end its movement on an empty cell or on a cell occupied by an enemy pawn, which is then removed. Capturing an enemy pawn in this manner is only allowed if the majority of pawns adjacent to it before your move are of your color. Replace all stones in an enemy field with friendly stones, provided that the majority of pawns adjacent to it are of your color. A field is a stone along with all stones one can reach from it through a series of steps onto adjacent stones of its color.

Passing is not allowed, but, if you have no legal moves available, your turn is skipped. When neither player can move, the player with the higher score in the final position wins. Your score is the number of stones of your color on the board, plus komi in the case of White. The button is used to avoid ties.

Komi and buttonKomi is the whole number of points that is added to White's score at the end of the game as compensation for playing second. Before the game starts, the first player chooses the value of komi, and then the second player chooses sides. Alternatively, experienced players may agree on a standard value for all games.

The button is a special token that is placed next to the board at the start of the game. On your turn, if neither player has taken the button yet, you may take the button instead of making a board play. At the end of the game, a half point is added to the score of the player who has taken the button.

-description from designer