Game: Lines of Action

Thread: Re: Another game similar to LOA

molnar — 2008-09-26T19:23:38+00:00

Agreed. The randomness does have less impact than one expects. As I mentioned in my comments for Army of Frogs, if it were online, I'd be playing it a ton.

Thread: Another game similar to LOA

qswanger — 2008-09-26T17:06:17+00:00

To all LOA fans out there:

There is a relatively new game out called "Army of Frogs" that has a similar connect-all-your-pieces-to-win mechanic. The main differences are that it is boardless, multiplayer(2-4), uses hex tiles (cool bakelite frogs, identical except in color), and they are added to the board rather than captured. To the purist, have no fear, the 2-player version is the most strategic and you can play a complete information game/variant (choice of tiles to play) rather than the prescribed rule of two randomly drawn tiles (though this surprisingly tends to not make that much of a difference). I highly recommend this game. Check it out: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/31449
This game is still in it's infancy and I see a lot of potential for it.
BTW, the creator is the same guy who designed "Hive" -- John Yianni.

Thread: At Super Duper Games

molnar — 2008-09-26T05:51:54+00:00

In case there's anybody who Subscribes to Content for Lines of Action, thought I'd mention that it can now be played at superdupergames.org
There are also now ladders established for both standard play and the "Scrambled Eggs" variant, which will become active once they reach 6 entrants.

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trioker — 2008-06-20T22:21:26+00:00

game in progress

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erak — 2008-05-04T16:41:45+00:00

Lines of Action using 1.5" Crisloid backgammon chips and a floppy board.

Thread: Re: Modern Classic

ddyer — 2007-11-01T05:39:30+00:00

it takes more than 10 games, but the move differential gets
burned in, then you can plan ahead very well.

Thread: Re: Modern Classic

wmshub — 2007-10-31T21:55:46+00:00

I have played about 10 times vs. an AI. I have found that the game has very low clarity; any move changes the move distances for other pieces, making it very difficult to plan ahead. Otherwise, I like the game a lot.

Thread: Modern Classic

El Diabolo — 2007-10-31T20:01:28+00:00

I discovered Lines of Action when playing at Boardspace.net. When I first saw it it did not look very compelling. To look at the board is to see a checker set with perhaps a new rule set. My opinion has changed drastically. The rule set is so brilliant, and the finishing condition so appropriate that I find it hard to believe that this game does not have a larger following.

The beauty of the rules

Each piece moves exactly the number of squares as there are pieces in line of intended movement. This creates a series of unique "on-the-spot" puzzles that have to be solved to advance toward the winning condition. Sometimes a FANTASTIC defensive move is just adding one of your pieces to a line.

Pieces may land on enemy pieces but not move over them
Pieces may move over friendly pieces but not land on them

This rule creates a powerful defensive tool and also puts you in positions where you have really screwed yourself. Sometimes it is your own pieces that prevent a brilliant move!

Winning condition: All of your pieces must be touching either orthogonally or diagonally.

Unlike checkers capturing your opponents is not always the best move! Less pieces means it is (in some ways)easier to win! A far better strategy is to isolate their pieces in ridiculously difficult situations that they have to puzzle out!

I have played this game hundreds of times with real opponents and AI. The AI programs are vicious. Even dumbot at boardspace can be ruthless on a good day. Abstract Games Magazine used to have a column entitled "A beautiful move in ___________" Lines of Action is a game filled with beautiful moves just waiting to be discovered on the spot!

If you love thinking in your games, give this a try. If you are waiting at Cracker Barrel and have access to the checker set give this a try. Try it several times though. The elegance of this game really opened to me around game 20.

Thread: Re: Session Report

El Diabolo — 2007-10-31T01:32:06+00:00

This game is so deep. I play all of the gipf series, hex, and hive. LOA though still is deep, elegant and fascinating. Keep at it, one day it will open to you and you will know its true beauty.

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Oersted — 2007-07-27T13:06:29+00:00

A game of LoA with not-very-handy wooden checkers.

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Gamegrunt — 2007-06-21T17:44:33+00:00

Lines of Action played on a "Kong the 8th Wonder of the World Checkers"

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chaosbreaker — 2007-02-20T04:36:55+00:00

World champion LOA player GameMaster free from http://www.cs.unimaas.nl/m.winands/loa/download.html

Thread: Re: 2-6 player version?

aristid — 2006-10-14T06:12:51+00:00

hello dave. :-)
I know it sounds absurd, but its in the book (just got it, its a wonderful read), so it was worth a shot.

Thread: Re: 2-6 player version?

ddyer — 2006-10-12T17:42:24+00:00

That's complete news to me, and I think I have the most comprehensive
collection of information about the game at http://www.boardspace.net/loa/

Thread: 2-6 player version?

aristid — 2006-10-12T13:45:53+00:00

Sid Sackson in his "gamut of games" book mentions that "Claude also has a version that can be played from 2 to 6 players on a special board".
Is there any information on this?
thanks in advance.
aristides.

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GeoMan — 2006-03-27T21:55:10+00:00

Crown pieces bought from Spielmaterial.de

Thread: Lines of Action play-by-web

chaosbreaker — 2006-02-22T21:07:46+00:00

Lines of Action play-by-web

http://www.littlegolem.net

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chaosbreaker — 2006-02-20T20:26:51+00:00

Lines of Action play-by-web at littlegolem.net

Thread: Lines of Action fails to Engage

None-So-Pretty — 2005-11-22T22:57:12+00:00

You know which games are gold when you have to find FAST a few two-player games that are quick to learn and have few pieces to lose. As noted elsewhere, I had to supervise a dozen Munchkins between acts, mostly boys 11-12-13, of the Wizard of Oz. I grabbed three : Elchfest, Lines of Action, and Lost Cities.

Our family still thinks this is a great game but, while my opponent was interested, he was not engaged nor very disappointed to have lost. He was more interested in landing on my pieces to eliminate them than connecting his own.

Wish I owned a prettier copy. I just use Go stones and a checkerboard. Maybe if there was a theme pasted on...?

Thread: Session Report

Marvinrah — 2005-09-19T15:47:50+00:00

Lines of Action
Players: 2 (Brian, Rich)
Date: Sep 18, 2005

We played our first game of Lines of Action on a homemade board. Any checkers set will do.

The rules are very simple and elegant. A quick rehash: The goal is to connect all of your pieces on the board. You can move one of your pieces each turn, but the distance your piece moves is the number of squares equal to the count of all pieces along the intended vector of movement. (Please consult the rules available from links listed on this site for clarifications.) You can jump over your own pieces but never land on them. You can never jump over your opponent's pieces, but if you land directly on them, you remove the opponent's piece from the board.

Our opening moves were clumsy, as we did not know the ramifications of certain moves and patterns. We soon learned how to work the mechanics of the game in our favor.

Overall, it is quite easy to pick up on the strategy and tactics in this game. A clever component of the game is the decision on whether to capture your opponent's pieces. On one hand, you are making your opponent's objective easier to achieve. On the other, you are able to split your opponent's connections and splice some of your own.

We really enjoyed our first playing of Lines of Action. It supplied us with many interesting decisions and surprising outcomes, but without becoming a brain-burner or over-analytical.

We played two games and each took about 20 minutes. We each won one of the two games. I imagine that after further plays, the early part of the game will go quicker, but the endgame may actually take longer as experienced players are more able to fend off their opponents attacks.

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klausbh — 2005-08-29T12:56:51+00:00

matching chess board and go stones

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chaosbreaker — 2005-05-05T15:34:24+00:00

Play against Mona or YL, the strongest Lines of Action programs. http://games.cs.ualberta.ca/webgames/loa/

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chaosbreaker — 2005-03-30T20:11:15+00:00

Lines of Action program by Benjamin Guihaire

Thread: Session Report

i7dealer — 2005-03-04T21:44:07+00:00

Jeff and I sat down with a checker board and we tried out this game. Played three, Jeff won 2-1 in the match. This game is really difficult to work to prevent what's going on with your opponent. I believe either the game is much deeper than it appears on the surface, or that it's just a 15 minute game that has no set strategy.

I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone.