Tacticum
Tacticum Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Your Mission
To graduate this course and become a Centurion you will need to achieve the victory condition of each scenario at least 3 times. Use the included Syllabus to track your progress.
Basic Training
Units and Formations
Unit
Formation: A single cube.
Movement: As many spaces as desired in a straight line; left, right, forward, or backward. A move is limited by other Units or the edge of the board. No diagonal moves.
Ability: Agility; can make decisive moves from far away and move in and out of formations as needed. Can capture enemy Units when paired with another friendly Unit or formation. (See Capturing)
Square
Formation: 4 Units arranged in a 2x2 square.
Movement: Move all 4 Units at the same time. Move 1 or 2 spaces left, right, forward, or backward. A change of direction is allowed, like forward then left.
Ability: Defense; none of the Units in a square can be captured by enemy flanking. Offense; can be used in flank captures.
Column
Formation: 3 Units in a connected line.
Movement: Move all 3 Units at the same time. A column moves along its long axis 1, 2 or 3 spaces.
Ability: Offense; captures an individual Unit by moving into the captured Unit's space, even if the Unit to be captured is part of a Square formation. Defense: Individual Units in a Column can be captured.
Commander/Legion Standard
Formation: this is the Hexagonal piece. This represents the Centurion candidate in the training scenarios.
Movement: Moves the same as a Unit.
Ability: Same abilities as a Unit but cannot be captured.
Turns
Players decide who will go first.
- Players alternate taking a turn until the game is won.
- On a turn, a player moves one unit or one formation.
Capturing and Trapping
Capture
A capture occurs when a Unit or line of Units is flanked on both ends. All capturing is "active". For instance, just moving to the spot between 2 enemy Units is not a sacrifice or a suicide move. Remember, more than 1 Unit can be captured by flanking.
Example: black's turn. (Three board diagrams on the rules sheet illustrate this capture.)
More than 1 unit can be captured in this manner. Could a flanking unit on each side really defeat 3 or 4 units? Probably not, but not getting flanked is one of the key lessons you must learn. So, your trainers have made this a fundamental rule.
Captures involving Formations
- Units that are part of a Square cannot be captured by flanking. But a unit in a square can be captured by a column.
- A Column can capture any 1 Unit in range of a Column's movement, even if the target unit is in a Square.
- If a Unit, Square or Column move creates more than one Capturing pair, all flanked enemy units are captured.
Trapped!
This only applies to the Command Unit.
If you can get your units into positions where the enemy commander cannot make a move, individually or as part of a formation, it is considered trapped. It does not matter if your opponent wants to move the commander right now or not.
Get in this position and you trainer is going to whack you on the back of the head and drop you for push-ups while declaring "You have to stay mobile on the battlefield!"
Example: In this example, Black is playing with the silver commander. White moves forward and Traps the commander. Even though Black could move one of its own units up for a double capture on its turn to free the commander, the point is that right now the commander is unable to move.
Training Scenarios
The Training Scenarios are printed on the back of the rules sheet and are not included in this transcription.