Eruma

*This article has been written by **KingOfYou115**. Please do not edit this article without their permission.*

**Eruma** is a two-player recreational and competitive board game that dates from at least fourteenth-century Litcht. It is an abstract strategy game that has no hidden information or chance.

It is played on a square board of 49 spaces, 20 dark and 29 light, arranged in a seven-by-seven grid. At the start of the game, each player controls fourteen pieces: one banner, two *toxtofin* (archers), four *cabalon* (cavalry), and seven *astatin* (footsoldiers). The players take turns performing a required move followed by an optional capture. The starting player is the winner of the previous game or the player controlling the white pieces.

The object of the game is to score more points from captures than the opponent before the "battle is decided." A battle may be decided in one of three ways: either banner enters the central "hilltop" square, either banner is captured, or either player cannot perform a legal move. A draw is possible.

## Rules

### Setup

Eruma consists of 28 pieces, equally split into "armies" of *white* and *black* consisting of one *banner*, two *toxtofin*, four *cabalon*, and seven *astatin*. Each player controls one army, and arranges their pieces according to the game's starting arrangement: The banner occupies the rear-most center square, flanked by the two toxtofin and beyond the four cabalon. The front row is entirely astatin, with the center astati beginning one square ahead of the other six.

The game is played on a grid of colored squares, as pictured on the right. The board is composed of seven columns (called *files*, denoted "a" to "g" from the white player's left) and seven rows (called *ranks*, denoted 1 to 7 from the white player's back rank).

### Turns

The winner of the previous game is the starting player. If no winner exists, the white player is the starting player. Play alternates between both players with each taking a single *turn*.

A turn consists of a required *movement* of one of the player's own pieces, followed by an optional *capture* of an opponent's piece that involves the moved piece.

Gameplay ends when the *battle is decided* (often shortened to simply "decided"). The current turn is finished if a capture is possible, otherwise points are scored and no more turns take place.

### Movement

A movement consists of a piece of the current player's own color entering a different unoccupied square according to the piece's movement rules. A movement to an occupied square or to a square that does not satisfy the movement rules is considered an *illegal move* and must be substituted for a different move. Movement is required even if it would put the player in a detrimental position.

#### Banner

The banner may move one space in any direction. It cannot move off of the board.

If the banner's movement ends in the central square (referred to as the *hilltop*), the "battle is decided" and the gameplay ends after the current player's capture, if any.

#### Toxtofi

The toxtofi's movement does not follow a set pattern like the other pieces of Eruma. Instead, a toxtofi may move *any number* of spaces in the direction of an adjacent (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal) dark space. The toxtofi does *not* need to end its movement on a dark space. It cannot move off of the board or through other pieces.

#### Cabalo

The cabalo moves any number of spaces horizontal or vertical. It cannot move off of the board or through other pieces.

#### Astati

The astati may move to any of the three immediate squares towards the opponent's side of the board, or to the space directly towards the player's side of the board. It cannot move off of the board.

### Attacking

A piece is considered *attacking* if an opponent's piece is located within any of the attacking piece's movement squares. The opponent's piece is referred to as *attacked*.

### Guarding

A piece is considered *guarding* if another piece of the same color is located within any of the guarding piece's movement squares. The second piece is referred to as *guarded*. A piece guards itself.

### Capture

Following movement, the player may optionally capture a single opponent's piece, removing it from game and earning points equal to the piece's value. A capture is only possible if all the following rules are met:

* The target piece is attacked by the moved piece
* The target piece is attacked by more pieces than it is guarded by

As a piece guards itself, the number of attacking pieces in the capture must outnumber the number of opponent pieces. Thus, a minimum of two attacking pieces are required to capture an opponent's piece.

When a capture occurs, the captured piece is removed from play. No other pieces are moved. If the captured piece is a banner, the "battle is decided" and gameplay ends.

### End of Game

Once the battle is decided (and after the player has completed their optional capture in the event of a hilltop ending), both players total a score based on the number and type of pieces they still control on the battlefield. Pieces are valued according to the following table.

The player with the higher score, indicating a more powerful army, wins the game. If both players share the same score, the game ends in a stalemate.