CYVASSE
A game of Battle Chess inspired by A Song of Ice & Fire :: alternate rules
By Jeff. C. Caird, Published by No Name Publishing
Cyvasse is a battle game inspired by George R.R. Martin's epic fantasy series A Song of Ice & Fire.
Originating in the Old World of Essos, it is a game of skill played by the clever and educated. Martin described it as a “mix of Chess, Blitzkrieg, and Stratego.
This version of Cyvasse uses a different means of combat, based on "rock-paper-scissors"-style comparisons.
diag = diagonal; ortho = orthogonal = parallel to a side of the board.
Version A: Basic Cyvasse.
This version of Cyvasse is simplified by omitting terrain.
1. Components.
- a. Standard chessboard (8 squares by 8 squares)
- b. Screen
- c. 10 types of battle pieces per side, total 26, per the table below.
| piece type |
number
per
side |
move/take |
category |
can take |
special |
| king |
1 |
1 ortho or diag |
king |
all |
game ends when taken; cannot move into check |
| dragon |
1 |
4 ortho or diag |
special (elite) |
all |
can move across mountains |
| elephant |
2 |
3 ortho |
special |
all |
|
| trebuchet |
2 |
3 ortho |
ranged (elite) |
infantry & dragon |
can attack over other pieces |
| crossbowman |
2 |
2 diag |
ranged |
infantry & elephant |
|
| heavy horse |
2 |
3 diag |
cavalry (elite) |
ranged & dragon |
|
| light horse |
2 |
2 diag |
cavalry |
ranged & elephant |
|
| spear |
4 |
1 ortho or diag |
infantry (elite) |
cavalry & dragon |
|
| rabble |
4 |
1 ortho |
infantry |
cavalry & elephant |
|
| mountain |
6 |
none |
mountain |
(cannot be taken) |
blocks all move except dragon & all attacks except trebuchet. |
2. Setup.
- a. The screen is placed between the two sides down the middle of the board.
- b. Players place all pieces on the board on their side. Mountains must be placed so that they do not completely block a section or corner of the board; a pass through the mountains must remain accessible by orthogonal movement.
- c. When all pieces are placed, the screen is removed and play begins.
3. Play.
- a. Players alternate moves; white moves first.
- b. On each move, a player may move one piece to an empty space, or to capture an enemy piece.
- (1) Pieces move and capture the number of spaces and direction indicated in the table. Mountains are not moved or captured once placed.
- (2) If the number of spaces allowed is greater than 1, the piece may move up to the maximum number of spaces. Movement must be continuous and in a straight line.
- (3) Pieces cannot move through or over friendly or enemy pieces.
- Exception: The dragon may fly over friendly or enemy mountain pieces.
- (4) When capturing, a friendly piece moves to the space of an enemy piece and removes the enemy piece from the board. A friendly piece must have open movement to the enemy piece to capture it.
- Exception: A trebuchet may capture an enemy piece on the other side of a mountain or friendly piece and is not moved to that space when doing so;
however, it may not move to an empty space across a space occupied by another piece.
Capturing follows these rules:
- (a) A piece may capture its equivalent piece, e.g. spears capture spears.
- (b) A piece may capture a lesser piece of the same category, e.g. spears capture rabble since spears are elite infantry and rabble are infantry.
- (c) Each category captures another category and is captured by another category, thus:
- i. Infantry captures cavalry and is captured by ranged.
- ii. Cavalry captures ranged and is captured by infantry.
- iii. Ranged captures infantry and is captured by cavalry.
- iv. Specials capture infantry, cavalry, and ranged.
- v. The dragon can be captured by elite pieces (trebuchets, heavy Horse, and spearmen).
- vi. Elephants can be captured by basic pieces (crossbowmen, light Horse, and rabble).
- vii. All pieces can capture the king; the king can capture all pieces.
- viii. Mountains cannot be captured.
c. Capturing the king.
- (1) The King may not move into a space threatened by an enemy piece (similar to moving into check in chess).
- (2) When an enemy piece is moved to a position where it could capture the king on the next turn, the enemy player announces "check".
- (3) If the friendly king is in check, it must be moved out of check, be blocked from the piece imposing check by an intervening friendly piece, or the enemy piece imposing check must be captured.
- (4) If the friendly player cannot eliminate check, the king is checkmated and captured, and the game ends.
- d. Play continues until the opponent's king is captured.
Version C: Expert Cyvasse.
This version of Cyvasse introduces terrain, ranged attacks, and special King rules.
1. Components.
a. Standard chessboard (8 squares by 8 squares)
b. Screen
c. 32 terrain pieces per side. Grassland pieces may be omitted; if so, treat unmarked squares as grassland.
| terrain piece type |
piece color |
number / side |
move effect |
| fortress |
black/white |
1 |
ends move |
| hills |
red |
4 |
+1 move to enter |
| water |
blue |
4 |
+2 move to enter; no attack |
| forest |
green |
7 |
+1 move to enter |
| grassland |
yellow |
16 |
none |
d. 10 types of battle pieces per side, total 26, per the table below.
| piece type |
number
per
side |
move |
take |
category |
can take |
special |
| king |
1 |
1 |
1 |
king |
all |
game ends when taken; cannot move into check |
| dragon |
1 |
4 |
4 |
special (elite) |
all |
can move across mountains; ignores terrain; can ruin fortress |
| elephant |
2 |
3 ortho |
3 ortho |
special |
all |
ignores water |
| trebuchet |
2 |
1
| 3 ortho (ranged) |
ranged (elite) |
infantry & dragon |
can attack over other pieces |
| crossbowman |
2 |
2 diag |
2 diag (ranged) |
ranged |
infantry & elephant |
|
| heavy horse |
2 |
3 diag |
3 diag |
cavalry (elite) |
ranged & dragon |
|
| light horse |
2 |
2 diag |
2 diag |
cavalry |
ranged & elephant |
|
| spear |
4 |
1 |
1 |
infantry (elite) |
cavalry & dragon |
|
| rabble |
4 |
1 ortho |
1 ortho |
infantry |
cavalry & elephant |
|
| mountain |
6 |
none |
none |
mountain |
(cannot be taken) |
blocks all move except dragon & all attacks except trebuchet. |
2. Setup.
- a. The screen is placed between the two sides down the middle of the board.
- b. Players place all pieces on the board on their side.
- (1) Terrain pieces are placed first. All 32 are placed, filling the player's side of the board.
- (2) Battle pieces are placed next on top of terrain pieces. Special: The King must begin play in the Fortress.
- (3) Mountains must be placed so that they do not completely block a section of the board; a pass through the mountains must remain accessible by orthogonal movement. Mountains cannot be placed on water pieces.
- c. When all pieces are placed, the screen is removed and play begins.
3. Play.
- a. Players alternate moves; white moves first.
- b. On each move, a player may move one piece to an empty space, or to capture an enemy piece.
- (1) Pieces move the number of spaces and direction indicated in the table. Mountains are not moved or captured once placed.
- (2) If the number of spaces allowed is greater than 1, the piece may move up to the maximum number of spaces. Movement must be continuous and in a straight line.
- (3) Pieces cannot move through or over friendly or enemy pieces.
- Exception: The Dragon may fly over friendly or enemy Mountain pieces.
(4) Effects of terrain: Terrain tiles can affect the movement of pieces.
- (a) A piece moving into or through the Fortress must halt its move there. A piece in a Fortress is considered to be a Special of its equivalent level (basic or Elite) while in the Fortress for the purposes of attacks and defense.
Example: Rabble (basic Infantry) would be treated as the Elephant (basic Special) for the purposes of what it could capture or be captured by while in the Fortress.
This does not change the range or movement of the piece in the Fortress, however, and the effect ends when the piece moves out of the Fortress or completes a capture of a unit outside the Fortress.
- (b) Water costs +2 to move through (and is thus treated as 3 squares instead of 1). A piece with movement 3 or less can enter or attack a Water square but must halt its move in that square.
Pieces cannot attack from a Water square (except the Dragon). Special: Elephants treat Water as Grassland.
- (c) Hills cost +1 to move through (and is thus treated as 2 squares instead of 1). A piece with movement 2 or less can enter or attack a Hills square, but must halt its move in that square.
- (d) Forest costs +1 to move through (and is thus treated as 2 squares instead of 1). A piece with movement 2 or less can enter or attack a Forest square but must halt its move in that square.
- (e) Grassland has no effect on movement.
- (f) Dragons ignore the effects of terrain when moving. Special: If the Dragon moves on to an empty Fortress square or captures a piece defending from a Fortress, the Fortress is considered Ruined.
It is treated as a Forest square for the remainder of the game.
c. Capturing.
- (1) Capturing works the same as in the Basic game, except for Ranged attacks.
- (2) Ranged attacks: The Trebuchet and Crossbowmen may make ranged attacks.
When making a ranged attack, the attacking piece captures an enemy piece farther away than the piece can normally move, but the attacking piece does not move into the captured piece's square.
The attacking piece cannot attack through intervening friendly or enemy pieces (but see Special). The attacking piece may also move and capture its movement range as other pieces.
Example: A Crossbowman is two squares diagonally from an enemy Rabble; it may capture the enemy piece by making a ranged attack, but does not move from its position.
Special: Trebuchets may make ranged attacks over intervening Mountains and friendly pieces.
- (3) The King has a special ability to boost the morale of adjacent pieces. If the King is adjacent orthogonally or diagonally to a friendly piece, that piece is treated as being an Elite piece of its type.
Example: A Rabble piece (basic Infantry) is adjacent to the King. It cannot be captured by enemy Rabble; enemy spearmen are required to capture it.
- d. Play continues until the opponent's King is captured.
4. Optional Rules.
- a. Larger Board: Play on a larger chess board, 10 squares by 10 squares. In this case, terrain tiles are 1 Black/White Fortress, 5 Red Hills, 5 Blue Water, 9 Green Forest, and 30 Yellow Grassland.
Grassland tiles may be omitted for simplicity; unmarked squares are considered Grassland.
- b. Dragon in Reserve. Under this rule, the Dragon is not placed on the board at the start of the game.
As a move, the player may choose to introduce his or her Dragon to the game by placing it on any empty space on the friendly side of the board.
- c. Super Trebuchets. Under this rule, a Trebuchet can conduct ranged attacks over both friendly and enemy pieces.
- d. Dragonfyre. Under this rule, the Dragon gains a ranged attack of two spaces orthogonally or diagonally. It may be used over friendly pieces, but not over Mountains.
- e. Castle Storming. Under this rule, any piece may Ruin an enemy castle. The friendly piece must move into the enemy castle, capturing any defender in the process.
If the enemy player does not immediately re-capture the castle on his next turn, the friendly player may choose to Ruin the castle on a subsequent turn using the piece occupying the castle. The space is thereafter treated as Forest.
- f. Wildfyre. Under this rule, if a ranged attack is used to capture an enemy piece occupying a water space, that space is considered to be burning Wildfyre and is impassable for the rest of the game.
ALTERNATE HEX CYVASSE
This variation of alternative Cyvasse can be played with any version of the rules, but uses a hexagonal board and modifies the base rules as described below.
1. Board.
- a. This uses a 91-cell hexagonal chess board with six hexagons per edge, with hexagons in three colors.
- b. Setup. The board is placed with a vertex toward each player; the two sides extending from this vertex are the “friendly edges” of the board. The Screen is placed across the center of the board (through five diagonal hexes).
No terrain or battle tiles may be placed in the hexes immediately adjacent to the screen, creating “no man's land” in the center.
- c. Movement. Orthogonal moves on the board pass across connected sides of hexagons. Diagonal moves pass along hex edges to hexagons of the same color.
2. Terrain Pieces (version C rules only). There are no grassland terrain tiles. 16 total terrain tiles are placed per player (1 Black/White Fortress, 4 Red Hills, 4 Blue Water, 7 Green Forest);
all spaces not placed with one of the other terrain tiles are considered Grassland.
3. Battle Pieces.
- a. The Dragon loses diagonal movement and attack and may only move or attack orthogonally. The Dragon's movement is increased to 5 orthogonal.
- b. The Trebuchet and Crossbowmen lose diagonal attacks and may only attack orthogonally, but have increased range for ranged attacks.
4. Optional Rules. The following are special optional rules for use in Hex Cyvasse or modifications to the optional rules provided for Expert Cyvasse, version C.
- a. Sea Movement.
-- (1) The edges of the board are bounded by sea. The six corner hexes of the board are considered to be ports. Mountains may not be placed in these spaces.
-- (2) A piece in a port space may move “by sea” to the next port space up or down the coast using its move.
If the new port space is occupied by an enemy piece, the moving piece must be able to capture the enemy piece to complete its move.
-- (3) The Dragon cannot move by sea.
- b. Dragon in Reserve. If the Dragon in Reserve optional rule is used, the Dragon as its first move is placed on an empty space within five hexes of one of the two friendly edges of the game board.
- c. Dragonfyre. If the Dragonfyre optional rule is used, the Dragon's ranged attack is orthogonal with range 2.
Basic Hex Cyvasse Battle Pieces Table (use for version A rules)
| piece type |
number
per
side |
move/take |
category |
can take |
special |
| king |
1 |
1 ortho or diag |
king |
all |
game ends when taken; cannot move into check |
| dragon |
1 |
5 ortho |
special (elite) |
all |
can move across mountains |
| elephant |
2 |
3 ortho |
special |
all |
|
| trebuchet |
2 |
3 ortho |
ranged (elite) |
infantry & dragon |
can attack over other pieces |
| crossbowman |
2 |
2 ortho |
ranged |
infantry & elephant |
|
| heavy horse |
2 |
3 diag |
cavalry (elite) |
ranged & dragon |
|
| light horse |
2 |
2 diag |
cavalry |
ranged & elephant |
|
| spear |
4 |
1 ortho or diag |
infantry (elite) |
cavalry & dragon |
|
| rabble |
4 |
1 ortho |
infantry |
cavalry & elephant |
|
| mountain |
6 |
none |
mountain |
(cannot be taken) |
blocks all move except dragon & all attacks except trebuchet. |
Suggestions for creating a Cyvasse set:
- 1. Board. Use a commercially available chess board or hexagonal (three color) chess board.
- 2. Terrain pieces. Use poker chips or game tokens in black, white, red, blue, green, and yellow/orange.
- 3. Battle Pieces.
- - a. Use 25mm fantasy miniatures, or
- - b. Use two sets of chess pieces (King for King, Queen for Dragon, Rooks on blocks for Trebuchets, Rooks for Elephants, Knights on blocks for Heavy Horse, Knights for Light Horse, Bishops for Crossbowmen,
Pawns on blocks for Spears, and Pawns for Rabble), and
- c. 4-sided (= tetrahedral) dice or differently colored chess pawns for Mountains