Trench Rulebook

Table of Contents

The Board
The Game Pieces
Setup
The Moves
The Trench
- Trench Examples
Ending the Game
Credits

The Board

The board is in the form of a lozenge (diamond-shaped) and consists of 64 squares (8x8), that mimic the layout of a battlefield composed of two opposing territories, separated by a diagonal line (the "trenches").

The Game Pieces

The pieces, when placed on the board, provide a purposeful camouflage effect in "friendly" territory and an intentional optical illusion effect in "enemy" territory.

Each player initially has 16 pieces: 1 General, 2 Colonels, 3 Captains, 4 Sergeants and 6 Soldiers:

Grade	Number of Pieces
General	x 1
Colonel	x 2
Captain	x 3
Sergeant	x 4
Soldier	x 6

Each piece is represented by a black lozenge (Black pieces) or a white lozenge (White pieces), marked with a rank symbol: the Soldier's lozenge shows a plain diamond, the Sergeant's a small star burst, the Captain's a larger star burst, the Colonel's a four-point star burst, and the General's a five-point star burst.

Setup

The placing of the pieces obeys the natural combat formation of an infantry in the field, inspired by the alignment of a diamond-shaped Roman formation.

Each side's 16 pieces form a solid diamond block on that player's own side of the trench, arranged by rank in nested rows running from the trench back to the player's own corner: the six Soldiers hold the front line closest to the trench, the four Sergeants form the row behind them, the three Captains behind the Sergeants, the two Colonels behind the Captains, and the General sits alone at the rear point of the diamond, farthest from the trench, in the player's own corner.

Black plays first.

The Moves

Each player, in alternating turns, must choose a piece and move it in a valid direction, without changing the trajectory of the movement or jumping over other pieces. Players may not pass.

As soon as a player touches a piece, she/he is obligated to continue playing with that piece during their turn. It is not allowed in the same move to play with another piece (desertion). Each piece has restrictions on its movements, and depending on the rank each piece represents, it may move from one to five squares:

Soldier — 1 lozenge, parallel with board edges.
Sergeant — 2 lozenges, parallel with board edges and forward to corner.
Captain — 3 lozenges, parallel with board edges, forward and back to corners.
Colonel — 4 lozenges, parallel with board edges, forward to corner (but not back!), and parallel with trench.
General — 5 lozenges, parallel with board edges, forward, back, and parallel with trench.

The pieces are not obliged to move the maximum number of squares allowed. For example, the General can move anywhere from one to five squares; it does not have to move all five. This rule applies to all pieces except the Soldier, which can only move one square at a time.

The player ends the turn after moving a piece up to the maximum number of squares allowed for that piece in one direction, or, when that piece captures an opposing piece, placing the piece in the square the enemy occupied previously.

The Trench

The trench presents the following additional rules:

No piece in the trench can capture another piece already in the trench.

A piece beginning its turn in the trench does not have to stop its movement upon capturing a piece in enemy territory. It can attack more than one piece as it advances from the trench into enemy territory, or it can continue the move even after it captures a piece. It can move the maximum number of squares the piece is allowed to move in one direction; as it does so, it can capture any pieces along its route.

A piece that is already in the trench cannot be attacked by an opponent's piece that is in enemy territory (e.g., a black piece that is in the black territory cannot attack a white piece in the trench).

A piece that is already in the trench cannot attack an opponent's piece that is in friendly territory (e.g., a white piece in the trench cannot attack a black piece that is in the white territory).

An adversary's piece in friendly territory can attack a piece in the trench (e.g., a white piece in the trench can be attacked by a black piece that is in the white territory).

The Colonel and the General — the two highest-ranking pieces — can move along the trench up to the maximum number of squares allowed for the moves for that piece in one direction, provided they do not jump over other pieces.

Trench Examples

Only 1 capture per turn — a piece may only capture the piece closest to it in the direction it is moving (no jumping over pieces to reach a farther one).
The trench — frontal immunity — a piece in the trench cannot be attacked from lozenges in the enemy's own territory on the far side of the trench.
The trench — rearward vulnerability — a piece in the trench can be attacked from lozenges in its own player's territory (an enemy piece that has advanced into that territory).
The trench — full reach — a piece moving out of the trench may capture as many pieces as its reach allows along its path, and after taking a piece or pieces may continue moving up to the end of its reach.
The trench — blindsided — a piece in the trench cannot attack pieces in its own player's territory.
The trench — no enfilade — pieces that are both in the trench cannot attack each other, and cannot jump over each other.

Ending the Game

There are two possible ways to end the game:

The game ends after all of one player's pieces have been taken or, when it is not possible to make more captures, the match is finally settled by "gentleman's agreement" (armistice) and the points are counted immediately.
The first player to capture an opponent's pieces worth 25 points wins.

The point value is equivalent to the stars of its rank:

Rank	Points
Soldier	1 Star = 1 Point
Sergeant	2 Stars = 2 Points
Captain	3 Stars = 3 Points
Colonel	4 Stars = 4 Points
General	5 Stars = 5 Points

Credits

Design, Art and Rules of the game: Rui Alípio Monteiro

Graphical Adaptation: Mike Strickland

English Technical Revision: Ted Mitchell