Accolade - Journey to Knighthood (2011)

In Accolade each player takes on the role of the Lord of a medieval household. The players must guide four Squires on their journey around the board on their quest to become Knights and garner influence for their household. During their journey, they will also be attempting to keep the rival households in check. Can you be the most influential Lord and gain the ear of the King? Only time will tell.

Inspired by classic games such as Parcheesi/Ludo and Checkers/Draughts, Accolade is an abstract game of chance and strategy, which has players maneuver their Squires around the exterior path of the board in an attempt to reach their home cathedral (similar to Parcheesi). Once the Squire makes it to the cathedral, he receives his Accolade and is knighted. This new Knight now reenters the board, now with the sole goal of interfering with your opponent's Squires and Knights.

The board is made up of a central hub and 4 spokes, which are assembled differently depending on the number of players (2-4), allowing for a scalable game that decreases the amount of dead time experienced in a 2 player game of Parcheesi/Ludo. Though the board could also be used as an alternate Parcheesi board using those standard rules (and there is a bonus draughts board on the back of the main hub as well).

The main mechanic of the game is simple dice rolling for movement in a similar style to Parcheesi, but the pieces have more options on what they can do with those rolls. Opposing pawns (Squires/Knights) interact with each other by Checking (landing on them, as in Parcheesi) or Capturing (jumping over, as in Checkers) them. Pawns can attain a degree of safety by being in Castle spaces, or forming a Castle by doubling up 2 pawns of the same color.

Points (influence) are scored for removing opposing Squire / Knights and for any of your own Knights on the board (not in your home area).

The game ends once all remaining pawns are Knights, then the player with the most points (influence) gains the ear of the King and is considered the winner.

The game was created as an entry for TGC Classic Game Mashup Contest.