Bollwerk 178
Bollwerk 178 is a unique variant on a board with 178 squares. The goal of the game is, occupying the opponent’s end field with a piece or a bomb. Whoever captures all his opponent’s pieces or immobilizes their opponent also wins. There is no King in this variant.
Each player has 20 pieces and 25 supplementary stones at their disposal. The game board is in a constant state of change due to the supplementary stones.
Over 3000 moves are available for just the first move, so that opening theory plays no role at Bollwerk 178.
Setup
Pieces
Guard:
Both players has 10 guards at the start of the game. Guards can move and capture one square forward vertically or forward diagonally. They can also move one square horizontally, but without being able to capture.
Guards can jump over their own guards as often as they like in all directions per move (this also allows them to move backwards).
They can also jump over an opponent’s guard, which is always captured (only possible forward vertically and forward diagonally as with normal capturing).
From their starting row they can also move two fields forward (vertically and diagonally), but without being able to capture.
Guards are blocked by all supplementary stones.
Guards place supplementary stones within their regular range of movement, but at most over one of their own guards (in all directions).
Forward vertically and forward diagonally, supplementary stones can also be placed over an enemy guard.
The red square in the diagram means that this piece is the starting point when the options are displayed.
Gold Runner:
Both players has two Gold Runners. It moves and captures diagonally like in chess, but with the added ability to change colour. This means the Gold Runner can enter directly adjacent squares of a different colour without being able to capture. The Gold Runner is blocked by all supplementary stones. It places supplementary stones within his regular range of movement.
King´s Knight:
The King’s Knight can move and captures like a Knight or the King in classical chess. It can jump over all pieces, also over arrows and dropped bombs. It can move to a square that is occupied by an arrow. The arrow is destroyed and removed from the game.
If possible, the King´s Knight can jump past blocks (two squares horizontally and then one squares vertically or vice versa).
The King’s Knight places supplementary stones within his range of movement.
Rules
The goal of the game is, occupying the opponent’s end field with a piece or a bomb. Whoever captures all his opponent’s pieces or immobilizes their opponent also wins.
There are three options for making a move:
- moving one of the 20 pieces
- moving one of the 20 pieces and then place an supplementary stones with the same piece within its possibilities
- place an supplementary stone with one of the 20 pieces without having moved it before
Placing supplementary stones
Each piece can drop off all supplementary stones. Either after the piece has been moved (see point 2.), or without moving the piece first (see point 3.). It is not possible to place an supplementary stone and then move the figure.
Example for point 2.
A player moves his King´s Knight. He then has the option to place an supplementary stone from the new square it’s on. This is possible on all squares the King´s Knight could reach from his new position the next turn.
Example for point 3.
The player also has the option of not moving his King´s Knight and leaving it on its square. From there, the player can place an supplementary stone on a square that the King´s Knight can reach from his position.
A King´s Knight therefore places supplementary stones as part of his regular moves. There are exceptions for other pieces (Guard, Cannon, Spy).
It is not allowed to place supplementary stones in your own end zone. The attacking player may place supplementary stones in the opponent’s end zone. The defender can blow them up with a bomb or remove them using the knigh
Notes
Bollwerk 178 is a commercial chess variant on a board with 178 squares. Author: Stefan Bogdanski
https://www.bollwerk178.com/en/
This 'user submitted' page is a collaboration between the posting user and the Chess Variant Pages. Registered contributors to the Chess Variant Pages have the ability to post their own works, subject to review and editing by the Chess Variant Pages Editorial Staff.
By Stefan Bogdanski.
Last revised by Stefan Bogdanski.
Web page created: 2021-01-22. Web page last updated: 2021-03-06