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Subsections
4.8 Exceptional Movements
4.8.1 The Significant Errand
If a piece is entirely surrounded by points of contention - that is, if there are no moves
possible for that piece, it is said to be ``locked out''. In this case, the player
belonging to that piece may, when his or her turn comes, roll the
die (or dice, as the case may be) and request
a Significant Errand, based on his or her die roll for
that turn. Resolution of Significant Errands proceeds as follows:
- The player with the locked out piece rolls the die
as usual at the start of his or her turn.
- If the roll is such that the locked out piece could move exactly
that number of spaces, disregarding all points of contention and
spaces influenced by pieces of the opposing color, the player
with the locked out piece may at this point request a
Significant Errand.
- The opposing player rolls the die.
- If the opposing player's die roll is greater than the locked
out player's initial roll, the locked out player must move
some other piece, with the normal rules regarding points of
contention and influenced spaces still applying.
- If the locked out player's roll is higher, then he or she must
move his or her locked-out piece, provided that the piece, on completing its move
of the player's initial die roll, finds itself in a space not
controlled by the opposing player, and not on the same space as
any other piece.
4.8.2 The Solipsistic Path
It often happens that at least one color will manage to build a
``wall'' of influenced spaces across one and/or both sides of the board,
effectively preventing the other player from moving his or her pieces
through to the opposite side
(which is necessary to achieve Resolution - see Section ).
Although it is possible to play entire games without invoking this rule, if it is
entirely impossible for pieces to move through points of contention, then there
is also the possibility that the game will never be Resolved. So, if a player
wants very much for one of his/her/its/their beloved pieces to reach the opposite
half of the board, and if the opposing player has built a wall of influence
across the board such that the piece which is to be sent on its way must pass
through at least one point of contention to reach its intended destination,
then the player who wishes to venture across the point of contention may
invoke the Solipsistic Path, by the following procedure:
- The player who wishes to pass through the Point of Contention declares
their intention to do so before they roll the die, and point out which
space is being contended.
The Point of Contention being challenged must have existed for at least
one roll of both players' dice before either player may invoke the
Solipsistic Path. The rationale here is that each player should
have had a chance to ``back down'' before this rule is invoked.
- The mover (the player of the piece which is attempting to move
through a Point of Contention) and the contender (the player whose
piece(s) is/are blocking the mover's intended path) roll one
six-sided die each.
- Both the mover and the contender count the number of spaces influenced
by any of their pieces whose influence also extends over the Point of
Contention to be traversed, discounting any points of contention among
those influenced spaces, and add these numbers to their die rolls.
- If the contender's tally from Step is greater than the
mover's tally, then the mover's turn is forfeit: none of the mover's
pieces may be moved on this turn, and the die gets passed to the contender.
- If the tallies are equal, the players should roll again until one player's
tally is higher.
- If the mover's tally is greater than the contender's, then the mover must move
the piece for which the Solipsistic Path was declared exactly the number of spaces
indicated by his/her die roll, (ignoring the addition of influenced spaces which
were used to determine the outcome of the Solipsistic Path), moving first into the
Point of Contention which was challenged, and passing through any number of points
of contention, provided that the piece, on finishing its move, occupies a space which
is not influenced by a piece of the opposite color, or occupied by any other piece.
- If the mover's tally was greater, but movement of the Solipsistic Piece was
impossible (i.e. there was no possible destination under that die roll which was not
influenced by a piece of the contender's), then
the mover's turn is forfeit.
Next: 5 Concerning Connections and
Up: 4 Concerning Movement
Previous: 4.7 Influence
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Bryan Jurish
Thu Dec 6 02:01:15 CET 2001