Rings
The game of rings is a common past time among the elderly and wise. At least that is how it is presented, the truth is that it is a common game among all sorts of people. With fancy stone boards, simple wooden ones and all in-between. It is played in parks, in homes and even on ships.
History
It is said that the game of rings was designed as a tactical game to prepare to raids against their dragon masters. Originally using a chopped down tree's rings as guidelines and shaped rocks for the tokens. Since then the game has evolved into more of a two/four person board game/ skirmish war game. Several versions have existed over the years, of varying sizes and complexity.
Execution
Each player starts with their King, General and may choose a single elf or gnome token on their starting space. Dice are used to determine the order of play, and resolution of combat between tokens. The goal is to take the other's kings or hold the center space for 3 rounds. Each round players get to move and attack, and for the first five rounds players may draw an additional token from the bag. (A variant actually has you draw until your bag is empty).
Components and tools
The board consists of a round board with five rings of spaces around a central space. The board has special spaces; a palace space (the center space), and four starting spaces on the outside of the board. Each player has a bag of six types of tokens; one king, one general, three elves, three gnomes, one dragon, and one lethen. The board also has a a set of standard playing dice, 3 mountains, and 3 hill pieces. As there are up to four players, each set of tokens has a separate color. Typically the colors are Red, Orange, Blue and Green. Some pieces have a border for those who are colorblind to be able to play; solid line, engrailed line, spiked line, and thorn line.
by Alex Rawlins (arawlins)
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