Villawar 2024

Villawar or Villagers and Warriors is a two-player strategy game: Black and White. It is played on the squares (cells) of a square board with an initial setup of 16 villagers in the first 2 rows of each player without warriors. The default size is 8 cells per side, but boards of 6 or 10 are also valid. Each player has 16 double-sided pieces: one side represents a villager (unmarked), and the other a warrior (marked).

Definitions: A phalanx is a maximal set of pieces of the same color connected in the same orthogonal or diagonal line, composed only of villagers or only of warriors. A single piece is also a phalanx. To jump is to move a piece in a straight line, either orthogonally or diagonally, crossing exactly one friendly phalanx and landing on an empty cell or on an enemy piece, with the possibility that there may be cells before or after the jumped phalanx.

Turns:White plays first and then turns alternate. On your turn, do one of the following actions:

Move a villager of your color by jumping over a phalanx of friendly villagers and turn them into warriors. Move a villager of your color by jumping over a phalanx of friendly warriors and remove them from the board. Move a warrior of your color by jumping over a phalanx of friendly warriors and capture by replacement the first enemy piece it encounters in its path.

If you cannot make a move, pass your turn; otherwise, passing is not allowed.

End of the game:The game ends when both players pass on consecutive turns. The player with the farthest villager from their starting row wins (considering each player's starting row as their first row). If both have villagers in the same row, the player with more villagers in that row wins; in case of a tie, the previous rows are compared. If there is still a tie after evaluating all villagers, the same criteria are applied to the warriors.

—description from the designer