Sceptre 1027 A.D.

Rules Manual v1.0

Game Board
The game boards for Sceptre 1027 A.D. are comprised of nine different boards in a green checkerboard.
Each board is divided into an eight-by-eight grid and contains various terrain features including rivers,
ponds, castle ruins, and forests. See figure 1 for an illustration of the various terrain features.
Figure 1

a) Meadow
b) Forest
c) River
d) Bridge
e) Castle ruin

1
The game boards can be arranged in a variety of configurations, as long as the following rules are
observed:

1. Rivers must match where game boards meet. See figure 2.

Figure 2
2. Light green squares from one board must not be adjacent to the light green squares of another
board (likewise medium green squares must not be adjacent). See figure 3.

Figure 3
Any number of boards and configurations may be used. Boards may abut each other such that open
“holes” are created in the overall playing field.

The Pieces
The pieces in Sceptre 1027 A.D. are identical to those in chess; however, they do have slightly different
movement capabilities, affected by terrain features of the board.

Each player has the following pieces:

1 king
 2 bishops

1 queen
 2 knights

2 rooks
 8 pawns

Pieces always move relative to the player’s position. Forward is away from the player, backward is
toward the player. Pieces may occupy a rank (a single row from the player’s left to his right), a file (a
column from the player forward across the board), or a diagonal. See figure 4.

2
 Figure 4
Open Movement


King: The king moves one square at a time. It can move along the rank, along the file, or along
the diagonal. The king cannot move into a square such that an opposing piece may capture it
on its next move.


Rook: The rook moves any distance along a rank or file, as long as it is not obstructed by
another piece or terrain features.


Bishop: The bishop moves any distance along a diagonal, as long as it is not obstructed by
another piece or terrain features. Note that this means each bishop will occupy only light
squares or dark squares for the duration of the game.


Queen: The queen moves any distance along a rank, file, or diagonal as long as it is not
obstructed by another piece or terrain features.


Knight: The knight moves three spaces
along the rank, file, diagonal, or it may
move in an “L” pattern 2 spaces followed
by 1 space perpendicular to the previous
direction of travel. See figure 5.

The knight “jumps” from the start square

to the destination square and thus cannot
be obstructed by another piece or terrain
it jumps over.
Figure 5

3

Pawn: The pawn moves one, two, or three
squares, which must be unobstructed by
another piece, in a continuous line
forward, along a forward diagonal, or
sideways along the rank. See figure 6.
Pawns cannot move rearward except while
in certain terrain (see Terrain Movement).

Promotion: If a pawn reaches a meadow

square of the furthest rank from the
player, it may be replaced with any
already-captured piece of that player’s
color. Promotions cannot happen in terrain

Figure 6
features other than meadows.

Terrain Movement
The normal movement of pieces is affected by terrain in the following ways.

Piece Meadow Forest River Pond Bridge Castle Ruin

King Open Open Prohibited Prohibited Open Prohibited
Queen Open Open Prohibited Prohibited Open Prohibited
Rook Open Prohibited Prohibited Prohibited Open Limited
Bishop Open Limited Prohibited Prohibited Open Prohibited
Knight Open Open Open Open Open Prohibited
Pawn Open Open Limited Prohibited Open Limited

Open movement in the above table means there are no restrictions for that piece when interacting with
the specified type of terrain. See Open Movement above.

Prohibited movement in the table above indicates that the piece may not enter the specified terrain
type at any point during their movement. Note that because knights jump from the start point of their
move to the end move, they are unaffected by terrain unless their end point lies within the given
terrain.

Limited movement indicates that the piece may enter the specified terrain type, but suffers restrictions
or modifications to their movement while traveling through that terrain. These are described further
below.

4
Rook Movement in Castle Ruins
The rook may move one space at a time through
castle ruins. It must stop adjacent to the ruin
prior to entering on its next turn. If one space of
movement is sufficient to exit the castle ruin, it
may continue moving without stopping. See
figure 7.

Figure 7
Bishop Movement in Forests
The bishop may move one space at a time through
forests. It must stop adjacent to the forest prior to
entering on its next turn. If one space of movement is
sufficient to exit the forest, it may continue moving
without stopping. See figure 8.
Figure 8

Pawn Movement in Rivers

A pawn may that enters a river square from another terrain type must end its turn on that square. It
may exit the river freely on its next turn. See figure 9. If a pawn begins its turn on a river, it may choose
to move exactly one square up or down the river, even if such a move would otherwise be prohibited
(backward movement). The pawn moving along the river must not bypass a bend in the river by moving
diagonally. See figure 10.
Figure 10
Figure 9

5
Pawn Movement in Castle Ruins
The pawn may move into and through castle ruins. It must stop adjacent to the ruin prior to entering on
its next turn, thereafter, it may move freely to move through and exit the castle ruin.

Capturing
All pieces except pawns may capture an opponent’s piece by moving to the square the opposing piece
occupies. The captured piece is removed from the board, with the square it occupied now occupied by
the capturing piece. A player is never compelled to capture when possible; the player may simply
choose not to make the capturing move.

A knight can only capture a piece occupying the final square of its move; intervening pieces may not be
captured as the knight jumps to the terminus of its move. Note that a knight can only capture pieces
occupying squares with terrain types into which it can move.

A pawn can only capture an opponent’s piece if that piece is one square diagonal to the pawn in its
forward movement direction. See figure 11 for an illustration of the only squares a pawn may capture.
Figure 11

Effects of Terrain on Capturing

Terrain does not affect the ability to capture, although pawns must adhere to river movement rules
during capturing. If a piece can legally move to the capture site given the terrain being crossed, that
piece may capture the opposing piece. Note that pawns capture move is different from normal
movement. See figure 12 for an illustration of how movement limitations affect captures.
Figure 12

6
 1. Illegal. The white pawn cannot capture the black knight because it must follow river movement
rules prohibiting diagonal movement along river bends.
2. No check. White rook cannot enter the forest and therefore cannot place the black king in
check.
3. No check. Because the white bishop must stop before entering the forest, the white bishop does
not yet have the black king in check.
4. Legal for queen; illegal for bishop. The black bishop does not immediately threaten the white
queen because it must stop prior to entering the forest. The white queen’s movement is
unaffected by the forest, however, and may immediately capture the black bishop.
5. Legal. Because the knight jumps over intervening castle ruin terrain (which it may not enter), it
may capture the black bishop.
6. Check. The white knight is unaffected by the forest terrain and has the black king in check.

Setting up the Pieces

Once the boards have been arranged, following the board placement rules, the players places their
pieces as described below.

Each player claims the board closest to his lower right as his starting kingdom. See figure 13a. If playing a
random layout, players agree on the board that most closely fills this requirement. See figure 13b.

Figure 13b
Figure 13a

Beginning with the black player and proceeding clockwise, each player places one of his pieces
anywhere in his starting kingdom, following the terrain restrictions and the requirement that his bishops
occupy squares of opposite colors. Once all players have placed their first piece, they each in turn place
a second piece of their choice within their own kingdom, following placement restrictions. Once all
players have every piece set up in their kingdom, the game may begin.

7
How the Game Plays
The black player moves first. Play proceeds clockwise around the table, with each player moving one
piece on each turn.

To win, players attempt to capture their opponent’s king(s). When a player moves a piece that threatens
an opponent’s king, i.e. the king may be captured on the player’s next turn, he places the opponent’s
king in check. It is customary, but not obligatory, to warn the opponent by verbally announcing “check.”

A player whose king is in check must attempt to counter the threat, either by moving his king to an
unthreatened square, interposing one of his own pieces on the line of attack between his king and the
threatening piece (note that knights are unaffected by this tactic), or by capturing the threatening piece.
A player may never intentionally move his king into a threatened square.

If the threat cannot be countered, the king is checkmated. In two-player games, checkmate immediately
ends the game in a loss for the checkmated player. In three- and four-player games, the king must
actually be captured. It is not obligatory for the player checkmating the king to follow through on the
capture, and indeed may be required to respond to his own king being placed in check. A player whose
king is checkmated must still make a move to enable him to get out of check on his following turn,
should the threatening opponent be unable to follow through on the capture.

When a king is captured, the owning player is eliminated from the game, the king is removed from the
board, and the other pieces belonging to the eliminated player change ownership to the capturing
player. Note that this does not change the “forward” direction for the captured pieces. The capturing
player does not acquire an extra turn, but on his turn may move a piece either from his original force or
from the acquired force.

In a game where only two players remain, if a player can continuously check an opponent’s king on
successive turns without a gap, the king is in a state of perpetual check. If, during a state of perpetual
check, the relative positions of the attacking piece and the threatened king recur three times (and the
pieces are positioned the same relative to the board), on the third recurrence the king is checkmated.

Stalemates
If it is a player’s turn but the player has no legal moves and is not in check, the player has been
stalemated. If only two players remain in the game, this results in a draw. If three or more players
remain in the game, the stalemated player must withdraw from the game. His pieces remain on the
board and are no longer moved, although they may be captured by opposing players and are considered
for evaluating checkmates.