Luzhanqi is played with 3 participants:
- 2 of them leading an army each (the players); and
- another being the referee
Each army is made up of 25 pieces, including troops, bombs, mines and a flag. The object of the game is to capture the enemy flag.
The role of the referee is to make sure players abide by the rules, setting up pieces in valid positions, moving them correctly and, mainly, determining which pieces survive in combat
Concepts
luzhanqi troops are marked with a number, called their order , which varies from 1 to 9. the higher the order, the more powerful is the troop.
In addition, each army possesses mines, bombs and a flag.
The board is made up of 3 kinds of spaces. The simple spaces, or posts , are rectangular. The camps are represented by tents on circular spaces, and it's forbidden to attack any piece on such spaces. The headquarters are represented by sheds and no piece on it may ever move.
Spaces are often connected by roads (gray lines) on which pieces move, and may be crossed by railroads , on which they move faster. In the center of the board, separating each player's sides, are the mountains, which may only be crossed through the railroads. Railroads connecting the two sides of the board are marked with light rectangles, which only serves to separate the board and have no impact on pieces' movements
Setting up the game
Each player must position his pieces. They must be placed standing and facing their own players, such that the opponent may not tell them apart. You must place a piece on each post and each headquarter on your side of the board, but none in camps.
And there are a few more rules: bombs may not be placed on the front row (next to the mountains); mines may only be placed on the back two rows (the furthest from the mountains); and the flag must be place on one of the headquarters .
You must figure out which player will go first, and then they alternate turns.
The Game
On his turn a player must move a piece. Except by the mines and pieces on headquarters, which do not move, all pieces may move one space along either a road or a railroad. You may not move a piece to a space already occupied by an allied piece.
If the moving piece is on a railroad, it may move as many spaces as you ' d like , as long as it follows the railroad . It may not jump over pieces on its way, and neither may it turn corners. The engineers (troops with order 1) are the exception to this, being able to turn corners on railroads.
If a piece moves onto a space occupied by an enemy piece, then a combat takes place (check out "Combat" below).
The winner is the first player to capture his opponent's flag
Battles
When a player moves a piece onto a space occupied by an enemy piece, the referee must check out both pieces and declare which ones are captured.
- If both pieces are troops , then whichever is the lowest order is captured. If they are the same order, they are both captured.
- If one of them is a bomb , both are captured.
- If one of them is a mine , the mine is safe and the other is captured. But if the other is an engineer (order 1), the mine is captured and the engineer is safe. And if one's a mine and the other is a bomb, both are captured.
During combat, the referee must only tell whether pieces survive or are captured, and must not reveal the identity of the pieces. Captured pieces are removed from the board and revealed to the opponent.
If a field marshal (order 9) is captured, then the player controlling him must reveal his flag to his opponent.
Playing without a Referee
If only two participants are available, they may play without a referee. They then must reveal each other the pieces during combat. They must also reveal an engineer (order 1) when he is turning corners on a railroad. Pieces revealed in this way don't need to remain revealed - just long enough to show the adversary which piece it is.