Tag: Aggressive power

Aggressive powers are those that help you capture other players pieces. A must have is a strong initial and ending game to be successful. Aggressive countries should always have strong opening moves available to them. Aggressive powers can be subclassified into free piece and movement powers.

  • Free Piece: A power that involves being able to take a piece without retaliation. Look for ways to indirectly capture and don't worry too much about what protection the enemy has. These powers are most effective against defensive powers.
    • Assassins' Guild
    • Austria
    • Barbarian Invaders
    • Guerrillas
    • Iraq
    • The Mafia
    • WWII USA
  • Movement: A power that offers additional moves of some kind. Try to overwhelm the enemy with fast moves and consistently keep him on the defensive. These powers are most effective against non-defensive powers.
    • Armenia
    • Athens
    • Australia
    • Austria
    • Britain
    • Egypt
    • France
    • Germany
    • Greece
    • Holy Roman Empire
    • Japan
    • Luftwaffe
    • Medieval China
    • Medieval India
    • Papal States
    • Portugal
    • Roman Empire
    • Soviet Union
    • Sparta
    • Sweden
    • The Aztecs
    • The Hurons
    • The Incas
    • The Norse
    • The Picts
    • West Germany
    • WWII USA


Armenia

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF RELIGION. Armenia was the first kingdom to use Christianity to its advantage.


Starting configuration for Armenia

Your kings can also move like a bishop, and can jump two squares diagonally, but cannot capture.

Whenever one of your pieces moves to a square within two squares of an Armenian king and does not check any player, it can move again this turn. This ability can only be used once per turn.


Assassins' Guild

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF STEALTH. Assassins can strike without warning.


Starting configuration for Assassins' Guild

You may only have one knight in play at a time: if you have more than one knight at any time, you must remove all your knights except for one from the board. On your turn, instead of moving, you may permanently convert a bishop or rook you control into a knight.

At the beginning of your turn, you may choose to hide your knight. Knights may be hidden for up to three turns in a row. While your knight is hidden, its position is not shown on the board but is secretly written down each turn by you. Hidden knights may still be captured, but if a piece passes through a hidden knight, you may choose to reveal the knight’s location and automatically capture the piece that moved through it.


Athens

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF THE SEA. You may move through the sea to anywhere on the board.


Starting configuration for Athens

Your bishops may move to any open space on the board as long as you don’t put an opponent in check by doing so. You may not use this ability two turns in a row.


Austria

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF TACTICS. When two of your horsemen surround an enemy, he is as good as dead.


Starting configuration for Austria

Instead of moving one piece, you can move two knights. You cannot use this ability two turns in a row.

Whenever an Austrian knight moves to a position where he is threatening an enemy piece that is also threatened by another Austrian knight, that piece is immediately destroyed.


Barbarian Invaders

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF FEROCITY. Your opponents are so afraid of you that they will not attack you.


Starting configuration for Barbarian Invaders

Whenever one of your pieces captures an opponent’s piece, it cannot move again until one of your pieces ends a turn within two squares of it. However, that piece cannot be captured until it moves or until three of your turns pass.


Britain

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF DEMOCRACY. Because you have no king, it is extremely difficult to checkmate you.


Starting configuration for Britain

Ministers can move like kings and like knights, and are royal. If you move a minister as a knight, on your next turn you may not move a minister as a knight.


France

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF FEAR. You can motivate your soldiers to move again through the use of fear.


Starting configuration for France

After moving a piece on your turn, you may move again if you sacrifice a piece you control. Remove the sacrificed piece from the game. You may do this any number of times per turn, but you may not check or capture a royal piece with one of your additional moves.


Germany

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF BLITZKREIG. With unnerving swiftness, your army can suddenly reposition itself on the battlefield.


Starting configuration for Germany

On your turn, instead of moving, you may take a group of your pieces that forms a horizontally/vertically connected chain and move the whole group of pieces anywhere on the board. The pieces within the group must be placed on unoccupied spaces and retain the same arrangement as before. You may use this ability once per game, and you gain one additional use of your ability every time a player is checkmated by anyone (however, you do not have to use your ability immediately after the checkmate).

(In the diagram at right, the red group of pieces can be moved into the position outlined in blue.)

You may not use this ability to move a pawn to a square where it would promote or to move a piece into a square where it would cause check.


Guerillas

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF SUICIDE. You can use the threat of suicide bombing to bring the world to its knees.


Starting configuration for Guerillas

At the start of the game, take 8 small square cards (2 labeled "Bomb" and 6 blank) and put one facedown under each of your pieces. The pieces with a "Bomb" card underneath them are secretly carrying a bomb.

Each turn, instead of moving, you have the option of detonating a bomb carried by one of your pieces. If you do, that piece and all pieces horizontally, vertically, and diagonally adjacent to it are removed from the game.

If a piece carrying a bomb is captured, destroyed, or removed, then the bomb doesn’t detonate. Whenever one of your pieces is captured, destroyed, or removed, you can choose whether or not to reveal the card underneath it (however, you should keep all cards removed this way and reveal them all at the end of the game to prevent cheating).


Holy Roman Empire

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF INDEPENDENCE. The German princes can act independently of each other, but do not always get along.


Starting configuration for Holy Roman Empire

On your turn, instead of moving one piece, you may choose to move two rooks. However, you may not move them in the same direction.

When one of your rooks is captured, the piece that captured it cannot be captured by one of your rooks on your next turn, but can be captured on later turns.


Iraq

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF CHAOS. Your enemies are afraid to bring their pieces close to you, and for a reason.


Starting configuration for Iraq

At the start of your turn, if any opponent’s non-royal piece is horizontally or vertically adjacent to your bishop, knight, or king, destroy the enemy piece.


Japan

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF CAPITALISM. Once you take over an industry, your Western rivals are no match for you.


Starting configuration for Japan

If any of your pieces is the only piece of its kind on the board, that piece may move twice in one turn. However, if a piece’s first move results in a check, your turn automatically ends.

If an enemy controls a piece of a kind that you also control, you may sacrifice a non-pawn piece you control to destroy that piece.


Medieval China

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF CANNONS. Your cannons are difficult to mobilize but can be deadly when they strike.


Starting configuration for Medieval China

Cannons move and capture any number of spaces horizontally and vertically, but must jump over exactly one (friendly or enemy) piece to reach its destination. A cannon can only capture a king if it jumps over a friendly piece, not an enemy piece.

Chinese pawns capture forward, not diagonally. Chinese pawns do not promote normally, but once a Chinese pawn crosses the halfway line of the board (in your direction), it can move and capture one space horizontally or vertically.


Medieval India

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF TRIUMPH. When placed in certain formations, your warriors can suddenly decimate the enemy ranks.


Starting configuration for Medieval India

Instead of moving normally, your bishop can jump up to two squares in any direction.

Whenever you move a piece into the middle 4x4 square in such a position that it borders two other pieces that themselves both border the same piece (so that moving your own piece creates a "square" arrangement of four pieces), you may choose to have all three pieces destroyed. These pieces can include pieces of your own army, in which case they are captured nonetheless.


North Korea

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF INSANITY. Your moves are wild and unpredictable, and it is this that makes you dangerous.


Starting configuration for North Korea

At the start of your turn, roll a six-sided die. If it lands on 1, 2, 3, or 4, your turn proceeds normally. However, if it lands on 5 or 6, do the following:

First, roll another die. If it lands on 1 or 2, you can move one piece this turn. 3 or 4: up to two different pieces. 5 or 6: up to three different pieces.

Then select the piece(s) you wish to move. For each piece, roll a die. If it lands on 1, that piece moves and captures as a pawn this turn, 2 – knight, 3 – bishop, 4 – rook, 5 – queen, 6 – king. After this, you can move your piece(s), ending your turn. You must select all of the pieces you wish to move before rolling dice for them.

Even if a piece temporarily moves as a king, you are not checkmated until your actual king is captured.


Papal States

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF THE CHURCH. Italian bishops have special movement, and have the ability to become even more powerful as they move up the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.


Starting configuration for Papal States

Your bishops can jump two squares diagonally in addition to moving normally.

Whenever one of your bishops moves into another player’s 2x4, it promotes to an archbishop . Archbishops can move like regular Papal States bishops, but can also jump one or two squares horizontally or vertically.


Roman Empire

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF DISCIPLINE. Your soldiers are so disciplined that they almost move in tandem.


Starting configuration for Roman Empire

On your turn, instead of moving one piece, you may choose to move two pawns.

When two or more pawns are adjacent to each other, those pawns cannot be captured from further than three squares.


Soviet Union

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF SECRECY. Nobody knows what’s happening behind the Iron Curtain…


Starting configuration for Soviet Union

At the start of the game, take 8 small square cards (3 labeled “Pawn,” 2 labeled “Knight,” 2 labeled “Bishop,” and 1 labeled “King”) and put one facedown under each of your pieces. The piece named on the card determines what each of your pieces actually is, but only you can look at the cards.

On your first three turns, you may not capture any pieces outside of your 3x5 starting area.

On your turn, you may move a piece wherever you want. However, any player may choose to challenge your move: reveal the card under the piece; if the move that you made was illegal, you lose that piece, but if the move was legal, then the player who challenged your move skips his/her next turn.

If you ever put an opponent’s king in check, or if an opponent’s king moves into check by one of your pieces, you must reveal that that player’s king is in check. If you do not, you may not capture the king with that piece.

Whenever one of your pieces is captured, the card underneath it is revealed. If it was the “King” card, you are checkmated, all of the cards underneath your pieces are revealed, and your pieces are replaced by their cards' equivalents and are under the control of the player who checkmated you.


Sparta

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF TRAINING. One Spartan soldier will equal a hundred others.


Starting configuration for Sparta

The warrior can move as a queen and as a knight, and cannot be moved or destroyed as a result of other players’ special abilities. You may not have more than one warrior at a time.

Spartan pawns can promote to a rook, knight, bishop or warrior.

Once per game, while in check, you may move your king and warrior on the same turn.


Sweden

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF BUREAUCRACY. The Swedish army is so micromanaged that the king can move independently of his soldiers.


Starting configuration for Sweden

You may move one pawn and one non-pawn piece in the same turn. This power may not be used two turns in a row.


The Aztecs

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF WARRIOR SOCIETIES. The Aztec warriors were able to change societies with little training.


Starting configuration for The Aztecs

On your turn, instead of moving you may change one of your knights into a rook, or vice versa.


The Hurons

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF AMBUSH. Your warriors are adept at attacking from unexpected directions.


Starting configuration for The Hurons

All of your pieces can jump two squares in any direction that they normally move in, but when using a jump move you must jump over a piece. Thus, a king can jump two squares in any direction over a piece, a bishop two squares diagonally, a rook two squares horizontally or vertically and a pawn two squares forwards into an open square or two squares diagonally to capture a piece.


The Mafia

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF SNIPERS. Rather than use conventional methods of warfare, the Mafia prefers to pick off enemies from a distance.


Starting configuration for The Mafia

Your pieces do not move when they capture other pieces. Instead, if an opponent's piece is within capturing range of one of your pieces and you choose to capture it, you remove it from the board without actually moving your piece. This action counts as your movement even though you have not technically moved.

Your bishops and rooks may only move up to three squares each turn.


The Norse

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF THE VALKYRIE. The valkyrie collects the bodies of the dead to fight for you another day.


Starting configuration for The Norse

The Valkyrie moves like a knight. On your turn, instead of moving normally, you can move a valkyrie anywhere on the board where it does not give check, but you may not use this ability two turns in a row. You cannot promote pawns to valkyries.

Whenever the valkyrie captures a piece put it by your side of the board. At the start of the turn, instead of moving you may put one of these pieces on the board in your 2x4 starting area, as long as your valkyrie is still on the board.


The Picts

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF BRAVERY. The Picts will stand their ground, no matter what.


Starting configuration for The Picts

Your rook can move as a rook or jump two or three squares horizontally or vertically. Your bishops can move as bishops or jump two or three squares diagonally. However, you may not use either of these abilities two turns in a row, and you may not use these abilities to cause check or to capture a king.

Your pieces cannot be moved as a result of other players’ special abilities.


U.N. Peacekeepers

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF PACIFISM. Although you do not carry lethal weapons, you have other ways of ending wars.


Starting configuration for U.N. Peacekeepers

Your bishops and rooks may only move up to three squares each turn. Your pawns may move one square in any direction each turn.

Your pieces can only be captured within your 2x4 starting area, and you can only capture other pieces normally if they are within your 2x4 starting area, and only with your bishops and rooks. Your pawns cannot capture anywhere.

If an opponent’s piece cannot move at the start of its owner's turn, and at least one UN Peacekeeper is horizontally or vertically adjacent to it, that piece is removed from the game.

You are checkmated only if any opponent moves at least three of his/her pieces into your starting area.


WWII USA

YOU HAVE THE POWER OF THE ATOM BOMB. You can easily destroy all your enemies at once.


Starting configuration for WWII USA

Instead of moving normally, your pawns jump one to two squares diagonally. They cannot promote.

The bomb moves like a king. If a pawn and the bomb are adjacent to each other, you may move both of them on the same turn, if they both move in the same direction.

On your turn, instead of moving you may detonate the bomb. All pieces within two squares of it except your pawns are destroyed.


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