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". Several versions are provided here with increasing levels of complexity.

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 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.

RULES
(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.

c. Capturing.
- (1) When an enemy piece is within movement distance of a friendly piece, it may be captured if it is of equal or lesser value than the friendly piece.
- (2) 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. A Trebuchet may not move to an empty space across a space occupied by another piece.
- (3) Flanking: Lower value pieces may “gang up on” or flank a higher value piece. To flank, all those friendly pieces must be in legal movement range of the enemy piece to be captured, and the sum of their values must be equal to or greater than the value of the enemy piece. One of the friendly pieces then captures the enemy piece and moves into its space. Example: A Rabble is moved to one side of an enemy Light Horse. Rabble has value 2 and Light Horse has value 4, so it cannot capture the Light Horse. But on the next turn another Rabble is moved to be orthogonal to the Light Horse. Two Rabbles are now orthogonal to the Light Horse, so they flank with total value 4, and one of the Rabbles may capture the Light Horse.
- SPECIAL: If the King is used to flank, although its value is 1, it may let any one other piece capture by flanking.
- d. Play continues until the opponent's King is captured.

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 terrain.

c. When all pieces are placed, the screen is removed and play begins.

- (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 in a Water square may not attack (except the Dragon). SPECIAL: Elephants treat Water spaces 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. A piece attacking from a Hills square receives +1 to its attack value for that turn (to a maximum of 9), but reverts to its normal attack value if it ends its turn outside of the Hills.
- Example: Light Horse (normal value 4) rides down out of a Hill square (+1 attack value) and may capture Crossbowmen (value 5) which is on Grassland, but reverts to value 4 on the Grassland 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 there. A piece defending from a Forest square receives +1 to its defend value for that turn (to a maximum of 9), but uses its normal value to attack.
- Example: Crossbowmen (normal value 5) defending in Forest have value 6 if attacked, but only attack at their normal value of 5.

- (e) Grassland has no effect on movement, attack, or defense.

- (f) Dragons ignore the effects of terrain when moving, but are still affected by attack or defend benefits of terrain.
- 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. Dragons may attack from a Water square.

c. Capturing.

(1) When an enemy piece is in movement distance of a friendly piece, it may be captured if it is of equal or lesser value than the friendly piece.
- Example: An enemy Light Horse is within 3 orthogonal spaces of a friendly Elephant. The Elephant (value 7) may capture the Light Horse (value 4) on that turn.

(2) 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. It may not move to an empty space across a space occupied by another piece.

(3) Flanking. Multiple lower value pieces may “gang up on” or flank a higher value piece. In order to flank, all of the friendly pieces must be in legal movement range of the enemy piece to be captured, and the sum of their values must be equal to or greater than the value of the enemy piece. One of the friendly pieces is then selected to capture the enemy piece and move into its space.
- Example: A Rabble is moved one side of an enemy Light Horse. Rabble has value 2 and Light Horse has value 4, so it cannot capture the Light Horse. But on the next turn another Rabble is moved to be orthogonal to the Light Horse. With two Rabbles now orthogonal to the Light Horse, they flank with total value 4, and one of the Rabbles may capture the Light Horse.
- SPECIAL: If the King is used to flank, although its value is 1, it may enable capture by flanking by any one other piece.

(4) Ranged attacks: The Trebuchet and Crossbowmen may make ranged attacks. When making a ranged attack, the attacking piece captures an enemy piece further 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. A Trebuchet may attack over mountains or friendly pieces; a crossbowman needs a clear line to the enemy piece.

(5)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 of +1 value for attack and defense, in addition to any benefits from terrain. This cannot increase a piece's value to greater than 9, either alone or in combination with terrain effects. If a piece attacks from a position adjacent to the King, its attack value is one greater until it completes its attack; if it is no longer adjacent to the King at the end of its move its value returns to normal.
- Example: A Spears piece (normal value 3) is adjacent to the King, giving it value 4. It moves to capture an enemy Light Horse piece one space away; it returns to value 3, as it is no longer adjacent to the King.

- 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/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. It gains range 3 in the Hex game.
- d. Dragonfyre. Under this rule, the Dragon gains a ranged (= not moving) attack of two spaces orthogonally or diagonally. It may be used over friendly pieces, but not over Mountains.
- e. Fortress storming. Under this rule, any piece may Ruin an enemy Fortress. The friendly piece must move into the enemy Fortress, capturing any defender in the process. If the enemy player does not immediately re-capture the Fortress on his next turn, the friendly player may choose to Ruin the Fortress on a subsequent turn using the piece occupying the Fortress. 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.
- g. Fortress Promotion. Under this rule, a piece entering the friendly Fortress can be promoted to the next higher value piece following the loss of that higher value piece.

HEX CYVASSE

This alternate version of 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.

Diagonal & Orthogonal Movement

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.

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 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 is placed on an empty space within two hexes of the friendly Fortress.
- c. Dragonfyre. If the Dragonfyre optional rule is used, the Dragon's ranged attack is orthogonal with range 2.

Hex Cyvasse Battle Pieces Table (use for version B rules) .

Value	Piece Type	Number/side	Move/Capture	Special
9	Trebuchet	2	2 orth	Can attack over Mountain or friendly piece
8	Dragon	1	5 orth	Can fly over Mountain
7	Elephant	2	3 orth
6	Heavy Horse	2	3 diag
5	Crossbowmen	2	2 orth
4	Light Horse	2	2 diag
3	Spears	4	1 orth or diag
2	Rabble	4	1 orth
1	King	1	1 orth or diag	Game ends when captured; Special flanking
0	Mountain	6	None	Blocks all move except Dragon, all attacks except Trebuchet. Cannot be captured.

Hex Cyvasse Battle Pieces Table (use for version C rules)

Value	Piece Type	Number/side	Move	Capture	Special
9	Trebuchet	2	1 orth	2 orth, ranged	Can attack over Mountain or friendly piece
8	Dragon	1	5 orth	As move	Can fly over Mountain; ignores terrain move effects; ruins Fortress; cannot move by sea
7	Elephant	2	3 orth	As move	Ignores Water
6	Heavy Horse	2	3 diag	As move
5	Crossbowmen	2	2 orth	2 orth, ranged
4	Light Horse	2	2 diag	As move
3	Spears	4	1 orth or diag	As move
2	Rabble	4	1 orth	As move
1	King	1	1 orth or diag	As move	Game ends when captured; Special flanking: Boost Morale.
0	Mountain	6	None	None	Blocks all move except Dragon, all attacks except Trebuchet. Cannot be Captured.

1. Board. Use a commercially available chess board or hexagonal (three color) chessboard.

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 dice or differently colored pawns for Mountains