Gentleman's Echelon

A game of tactics and truth by Messrs Pitt and Reams.

You'll probably want to read the rules before you play.

• Beginners: Try setting the AI thinking time to 5 or 10 seconds.
• Intermediate: 30 to 45 seconds thinking ought to provide a decent challenge.
• Expert: If you can beat the computer on "Competition rules" then you enter the super-cool elite group below.

Technical problems

Having problems starting the program? You might need to update Java. Try going to the Java download site and getting the Windows (XPI) download. If that still doesn't work then e-mail me and I'll make good stuff happen.

The Rules

Playing the Game

The two stacks at the start of the game.

• Echelon is a game for two players; red and blue. Each player has six counters of their colour.
• At the start of the game, there are two stacks of six counters - one with red on top, and one with blue. The rest of the stack consists of pieces of alternating colour.
• Red plays first, and play alternates between the two players. By default, you play red and the computer plays blue.
• On each turn, the player can move one piece in a straight line in any direction. If a player does not have a legal move, they have lost. The piece may move any number of spaces until it encounters an obstruction or another piece.
• Obstructions comprise:
  • The edge of the board
  • Dead hexagons (see later)
• If a piece moves into the hexagon occupied by another piece of either colour, it is said to stomp that piece and is placed on top of it. The piece underneath cannot move until the piece on top moves away. Hence all but two of the pieces are stomped at the beginning of the game!
• A piece is free if it is not on top of any other piece. Only a free piece can stomp.
• If one piece is stomping another, another piece that moves into this hexagon can stomp both of them. Any number of pieces can be stacked on top of each other in this way.
• When the last piece moves out of a hexagon, that hexagon is said to become dead. Pieces cannot move onto or through dead hexagons.

The Finer Points

• A piece may stomp a piece of its own colour. This is surprisingly useful!

Competition Elite

A number of people have successfully beaten the AI under 'Competition Rules'. In order of accomplishing this mighty feat, they are:

1. Simon Pitt
2. Charlie Reams
3. Luke Norman
4. Ben Wilson

Glossary

Auto-stomping

A move in which one piece stomps another piece of the same colour.

Dead hexagon

A hexagon which has previously contained a piece but no longer does. No piece can move through or onto a dead square.

Dink

A move from one hexagon to an adjacent one.

Restomping

When piece is unstomped and immediately stomps the piece that was stomping it.

Stack

A pile of two or more pieces.

Stomping

Moving a piece on top of one or more other pieces.

Super-stomping

A move in which a piece moves from the top of one stack to the top of another. This is not allowed ever, at all, under any circumstances whatsoever.

Unstomping

Moving the top piece of a stack to another hexagon, freeing the piece directly underneath.

Feedback

If you love this game and generally find that it has given your life new purpose then let me know — my CRSid is calr3. Conversely if you hate us for even daring to conceive such a game, Simon's CRSid is sp440.