| ljensen.com | The Iron Guest | Rules | Release Notes | Screenshots |
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Introduction |
The Iron Guest is a board game that is also available as computer software. Each player commands a fleet of ships, the object being to dismast or sink all enemy ships by sucessfully firing upon or grappling them. |
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BASIC RULES |
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| Setup | The game takes
place on a hexagonal board, nine hexes in diameter, representing the open
sea, arr. Each player starts with 3 three-masted ships. High roll plays
first; play continues clockwise. Shoals are placed randomly on the board. (Nine shoals is a good number for a nine-space-wide board.) Ships may not advance onto, nor fire through, shoaled spaces. The first player then places each of his ships in a different space along a single edge of the board. The next player places his ships, and so on. A ship at rest always points toward a side of the space it occupies, not a corner. |
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| Moving | During his
turn, a player must advance each ship one space in the direction it is heading.
Either before or after the advance (but not both), a player may change his
ship's heading by 60 degrees (1/6 circle) clockwise or counterclockwise.
This sequence, including firing and grappling (see below) is called a ship's
play. A player may move his ships in any order, but must play
them all during his turn. A ship's entire play must be announced before dice are rolled for any firing or grappling. Legitimate errors discovered after the next player starts his turn are considered the fortune of war, and stand uncorrected. If a ship can advance during the player's turn, it must do so, even if grappling (see) or sub-optimal plays for the player's other ships are a consequence. Any play or initial placement that would prevent any ship from advancing on the player's next turn (such as leaving a ship pointed directly into a corner of the board) is prohibited. If a ship cannot advance during a given turn, it must change heading so as to allow it to advance in the least possible number of plays. |
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| Firing | This is the
heart of the game, so pay ye attention: A ship's guns are considered to
be fixed perpendicular to its heading, on both sides. As the ship advances
and/or changes heading, its line of fire sweeps through several spaces.
If, at any point during a ship's play, its line of fire includes the center
of the space containing an opposing ship, it may fire upon that ship. (Note
that the target's orientation doesn't matter, only its position.) These diagrams illustrate how the broadside line of fire sweeps 60 degrees during a counterclockwise change in heading: 
For simplicity, firing is illustrated from only the starboard (right) side, but a ship may fire from both sides during a single play if targets are in range. A ship cannot fire more than once from each side during a single play. More examples: 
Results of firing are determined by rolling two dice. The range is taken at the moment when the closest broadside occurs, and is simply the minimum number of space boundaries one must traverse to reach the opposing ship:
A ship that is hit loses one mast. When the last mast is lost, if the dice roll was even, the ship is sunk and removed from the board; otherwise it is capsized, remaining dead in the water, playing no further role save as an obstacle to advancing, nor may it be grappled. It does not block shots. If more than one ship is in the line of fire at the moment of firing, the closer ship blocks the line of fire and is the one considered to be fired upon, even if the player has announced otherwise. Friendly ships block shots and cannot be fired upon. |
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| Grappling | If a player
advances his ship onto the same space as an enemy ship, a grapple occurs,
in which the ships are pulled together and the two crews engage in hand-to-hand
combat. Players roll one die apiece simultaneously; each ship's remaining
number of masts is added to the die roll. The higher total wins, re-rolling
in case of a tie. The losing ship is scuttled and sunk (removed from the
board). The winning ship advances into the contested space. A ship may change heading and fire during the same play in which it grapples, but all such activity must cease once the center of the attacking ship passes the boundary of the contested space, no matter what the outcome of the grapple. |
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| Winning | Play continues
until all players but one have lost all ships. That player is the winner. |
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OPTIONAL RULES |
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| No Prisoners | Dismasted
ships remain active and can be fired upon; another hit sinks the ship. They
can also be grappled. All enemy ships must be sunk to win the battle. A
dismasted ship cannot change heading or advance, but it may fire upon any
enemy ship that ends its play within range on the dismasted ship's line
of fire. |
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| Variable Wind | After each
player's turn, a die is rolled. 1 means the wind changes direction by 60
degrees clockwise; 6 means it changes counter-clockwise; 2-5 means no change
in wind direction. (For a more fitful wind, the die roll indicates the absolute
wind direction.) |
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| Double Damage | If a ship
rolls doubles when firing against an opponent, the damage is doubled. (Doubles
have no effect on the total needed to score a hit.) |
| ©1998-2002 Lars Jensen | http://ljensen.com/ironguest |
