Ken Jarosz
United States
North
Ohio
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First game of the 3M Bookcase series I received in the 70's. As I enjoyed Chess and loved the mini soldiers that you could get at the store in all of the periods of the day..and back of comic books, this was a natural present for me one Christmas.
A case can be made for the chess aspect of the game as the figures relate to chess in many ways, yet the strategy (how you set up to play) is truly a mini's realm, however there are no random elements in this game. The blind set up allows a quick end to an army if not placed in a protected "valley" or behind the mountains.
So basic comparison between Chess and Feudal (basic 2 player game):
Board
Square rows and columns-Same as chess although Feudal board 9x the chessboard.
Mountains and rough ground-same as mini's. Prevents movement in some areas and hinders "support" of some figures to others. Board does not have the same arrangement of terrain for each side and thus offers a variable in where you defend, and from what direction.
Set up
chess=fixed
Feudal=blind and varied
Pieces
King Chess (1)/Feudal (1)
SAME function Feudal King can move 2 spaces, which is in comparison, a smaller range of movement compared to the size of the board in Feudal.
Chess-Queen (1)
Feudal-Knights (2), Duke and Prince (like 4 Queens)
Move like a Queen in chess an direction, all across the board. In Feudal, this gives these figures a greater range of movement, as the board is bigger.
Chess Bishops (2) Moves diagonal across the board
Feudal Sergeant (2) Moves diagonal 12 spaces (half the board) or one space horiz/vert
Chess Rooks (2) Horiz/Vert across the board
Feudal Pikemen (4) horiz/vert 12 spaces (half the board) or one space diagonal also compared to pawns as some movement similar and the greatest number available of a single piece. More apparent when playing with all 3 shades of blue/brown as advanced 2 player game.
Chess Knights (2)/Feudal Squire (1)
Movement functionally the same.
Feudal Archer (1) Moves OR Shoots up to 3 spaces any direction. To remove opponent Archer does not take the space of opponent like any other piece in the game
Feudal Castle (1) The key to winning the game. Placement varies and take 2 moves to "capture".
Thus, Chess knowledge comes in handy, yet the pieces are different enough to warrant concentrated referal to the diagram of moves provided in the game until familiar.
Play
A piece is "captured" like Chess, by your piece replacing the position of your opponents piece on the board (with the exception of the Archer above). The mounted men are very powerful as they can swoop down the board from any direction and take out a piece, but you can protect that piece with an Archer and still not expose your troops to additional capture themselves.
The game can end up being a continual "trade" as you manuever for position. These trades end up having the feel of chess in that you are sacrificing a piece for another and hopefully making the best of your trade by unit type (ie pawn for Queen or Pikeman for Prince) or trade for position. Thus the play of the game is very similar "style" wise to chess.
However the terrain makes for some interesting "block" and protected lines of advance much like a miniature game. Channeling the forces into specific routes and ares to "ambush" your opponent gives this game a distinctive miniatures feel.
The strategy of placement of your castle and how pieces are to each other is critical, yet can be recoverd as you can move EVERY piece on the board each turn. Thus the "tactical" feel for the game.
Also multiple player options and changing from a 2 player basic game to a 2 player 3 kingdoms each (one castle, but the King, Duke, and Prince each have an army) stretch this game to multiple levels.
Overall a great game to move into for younger players interested in Middle Age warfare and have some Chess knowledge. Also a good mini game for a beginner. No "luck" for die rolls are part of the game yet the mini's and board can be utilized to move into other mini rulesets on a very limited basis.
The "BITS"
The figures are of a common 1/72 scale although the "cuts" of the figures make them seem "out of scale" to each other as some have a bulk about them and others seem skinny. The pegs on the bottom make it difficult to utilize on a table, but if you use with the Zvezda Age of Battles formation bases by drilling the bases for the pegs, you could have a very generic army (the pegs would still be a hair too long, but a 1/4" playwood base/tray could be used to field these figures without conversion from the Feudal game.)
An easy step into mini games on a tabletop and a common thread to Chess makes this game good for anyone between the boardgame and tabletop interest. Also a good "diceless" game.
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Glenn Roberts
United States
Eaton
Ohio
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I agree with your overall assessment (thorough and well-done, by the way.) I'd add that another similarity to chess is the importance of the center. If you look at the board, you'll see several "highways" on it: unblocked lines of squares running the length or width of the board on each edge (usually 1 square wide, with long sections of 2-wide), and two 2-wide highways running from the middle of one board edge to the middle of the other (one horizontal, one vertical) - these two major highways intersect in the center of the board. So, control the center, and you can move forces around more quickly. Regarding the castle: if you put the king in the castle, you have a similar degree of protection as a castled chess king standing behind a wall of pawns: there's only one open route (from the 1st rank, in chess; from the green, in Feudal) unless you can somehow force the King to come out from the walls (moving out in Feudal; moving out or having to move the pawns, in chess.)
As a blend of wargame and chess, the game leans heavily toward chess. Because most of the pieces are highly mobile relative to the board size, the armies are in immediate and continual contact - again, very similar to the chess situation. The ability to move one's entire army (on the surface, a wargame feature) combined with this mobility leads to the same ability to quickly move to block the opponent's forces and plans as in chess, where only one piece can move each turn.
Since I'm more of a chess player, I prefer Feudal in its pure form. However, having had some wargame experience, I can see how wargamers might feel it comes up short. One of the game's strengths, however, is that you can move it along the spectrum from chess to wargame simply by tinkering with the moves of the 3 strongest pieces: Mounted men, pikemen, and sergeants. I've tinkered with reducing them to 12 (mounted) and 6 (foot), which seems to put you at the midway point, and with 4 (mounted) and 3 (foot), which seems to put you mostly toward the wargame end of the spectrum (you can break contact between armies, and the archer and squire can take a more active role in the game, leading to more diverse battle tactics.) In all of these reductions, the Sergeants and Pikemen retain their 1-square secondary-direction move.
If you prefer more of a wargame, give the above a try.
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Brian Schott
United States
North Dakota
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I went ahead and scanned my copy of the rule book in case anyone needed it.
http://s102.photobucket.com/albums/m93/Bschott007/Feudal/
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Posted Thu Sep 29, 2005 3:44 pm