russ wrote:
Clarification: I believe a first player move on the edge loses for the first player against optimal play by the second player, right? So this is not really a "perfect plan".
To tell the truth, I'm intrigued to figure out how to respond to the poorly placed first marble - but once I do, the smaller board version of Zertz will be much less interesting. Clearly, a better game is not constrained by this limitation on the first player's play. Fortunately, I've got extra marbles and lots of extra rings.
Quote:
For me Tzaar has the most strategic variety.
I hope Karl and I were playing Tzaar correctly. The rules are not posted at BGG, but I divined what I could from previous reviews.
Here is how we played. We used the Gipf board with all points eligible, including those on the edge. The only exception is that the middle space is out of play. All edge spaces are considered to be connected by a line. We used 15 basic Gipf pieces as Totts, 9 Zertz potentials as Tzarras, and 6 Tamsk potentials as Tzaars.
1) Initial set-up like Dvonn with players alternating, white goes first. Any piece may be placed in any open space with no restrictions.
2) Play begins with white, who gets a capture move only on his first turn. Any friendly piece on the board is eligible for all moves (unlike Dvonn, where surrounded pieces may not move). Enemy pieces eligible for capture must be connected by a straight line to the piece that is moving, with no intervening pieces of either color. Also, one may not capture a stack of enemy pieces higher than the moving stack (a single piece may be considered a stack of one).
3) Black executes a capture move by the same rules as in 2). Black then has the option to pass, execute another capture move, or stack. Stacking on enemy pieces is not allowed. Friendly pieces eligible for stacking must be connected by a straight line to the piece that is moving, with no invervening pieces of either color. Once in a stack, only the top piece is considered to still be in play; e.g., a combination of different pieces topped by a Tzaar is considered one Tzaar.
4) Players alternate executing step 3 until either one player has no legal moves remaining or loses all of one of his three types of pieces. When any of these occurs, his opponent wins.
I'm waiting for someone to ask about Punct. I've played it twice on-line, and wasn't as engaged as with some of the other games. However, I got a good price from someone relatively local, and I'm picking up the game tomorrow! :-D So perhaps I'll have more to say about Punct soon.
Finally, thanks to the other poster for the clarification - thanks *Kris* Burm for these great games.
Posted Wed Feb 20, 2008 7:14 pm
