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Dameo Rules: Movement
Linear movement
Linear movement is defined as the move of a straight unbroken line of men of the same color,
one square along the line of squares they occupy, provided the square in front is vacant.
It includes the move of a single man, which may be considered as a line-of-one.
Linear movement does not apply to kings.
Linear movement also fuels
.
In the process of inventing that game
I had considered it as a vehicle for movement (not for capture of course) in a draughts game.
In International Draughts, differences in pace derive from one source only, namely captures,
So bringing in a bit of flexibility in this strategic instrument wouldn't hurt.
Apart from that it's not hard to see that it would open up a new range of tactics.
The reason I didn't do so, is that Draughts is drawish, and introducing linear movement doesn't have
any effect on that. Besides it's rather crammed in the opening and I could see forces grinding
into interlocking positions, where the winner would be the one with the last tempo on a full board.
So I abandoned the idea.
While working on Draughts Dissected, I noticed the moves of men
in Croda, a modern variant invented by Ljuban Dedic, are not restricted to the direction of capture.
This is a big difference in terms of linear movement because it counteracts - if not eliminates -
a tendency to grind into
interlocking positions. Dameo happened quite unintentionally:
it's rules fell into place in less than a minute.
Rules
The rules mention men and
kings. A king is a promoted man.
If the difference doesn't matter, they may also mention
pieces,
for instance 'the number of pieces on the board'.
The diagram shows the initial position. The reason for this choice is a natural
tendency of draughts games that allow straight forward movement (Turkish, HexDame, Croda),
to build up forces along the sides. This initial position creates a certain balance between
the center and the sides and demands an economical use of material.
- White begins. Players move - and must move - in turn
Object
- The object is to leave your opponent without a valid move,
either by capturing all his pieces, or by blocking them completely. Draws may occur by mutual impotence or
three-fold repetition of moves
Movement
- A line of men (this includes a single man) may move one square straight or oblique
forward, provided the square in front is vacant.
In actual play the last man of the line one intends to move is picked up and put in front,
and that's how the move is noted down.
If a man ends its move on the back rank,
it promotes to king. A king moves as the queen in Chess, any distance along an open line, as indicated on the right
In Dameo one can open with any man. On the left, the 26 unique opening moves white has at his disposal.
For each of these there's a symmetric one. Black, on his first move, doesn't face a symmetric situation, so he
actually has a choice of 52 answers. Thus after two moves, 1352 different positions are possible.
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