Laska
Laska Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Material
- board (7x7)
- 11 white discs with a spot on one side (soldiers)
- 11 black discs with a spot on one side (soldiers)
- carrying case
Setup
Each player starts the game on the 7x7 board with eleven soldiers as shown in the image (with the spots not showing).
Play takes place only on alternating squares, so that only 25 of the 49 squares are actually used. The nestorgames edition shows only the usable spaces, for clarity.
How to Play
White starts. On a turn, a player moves one soldier or stack of soldiers she controls (topmost soldier is of her colour) diagonally forward one space. Stacks cannot be split as a result of a move.
If a capture is available (by jumping over, as in checkers), then the player must make that capture, trapping the captured piece (just the topmost one, in case of a stack) underneath the capturing one; if the newly captured piece had previously had one or more pieces underneath it, then those pieces are now free to move in future turns.
Example: the black soldier captures the white soldier by jumping over it and trapping it underneath.
Example: a stack owned by Black jumps over a stack owned by White, capturing its topmost soldier and liberating a black soldier.
If a soldier or stack reaches the opponent's back row, its topmost piece is flipped and promoted to an officer (spot visible). Officers (and stacks with officers on top) can move one space diagonally in all directions and make several captures on the same turn, but not jumping over the same space more than once. Remember that captures are compulsory.
End of the Game
The game continues until either a player can't move or a player has no pieces remaining on the board. In both cases, this player loses the game.