New Play By Email "Feudal" by Avalon Hill

From: lafolle@boing.resort.com (Cynthia Ann Dutra)

Date: Wed, 10 Aug 1994 06:02:32 +0000

PLEASE EMAIL lafolle@resort.com IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN
PLAYING A PLAY-BY-EMAIL GAME OF "FEUDAL".  I will play a game with the first
person to mail me back.  This will be the first trial run of this pbem
protocol.  If additional people are interested in playing, I will refer
them to each other, and they can mail me back how smoothly it went.
Let's give this a run.

This is an experemental attempt to turn the Avalon Hill game
"Feudal" into a play-by-email game.  In order to play, you should own
a copy of this game and read the instructions thoroughly.  This protocol
for communicating via e-mail may look complicated, but it's really not
if you've ever played the game.

MOVING PIECES:

Game notation for moving pieces is as following:
	Brown pieces use lower case letters, blue use upper case letters.
	Castles and courtyards use the same notation for either color,
	but naturally ownership of a castle can be easily determined
	by which side of the playing field it is on.

a = Archer	@ = Castle	O = Castle Courtyard
	p = Prince	d = Duke	n = Knight
	k = King	i = Pikeman	s = Sargeant
	q = Squire

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X
1  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  # = Mountains
13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  % = Hills
14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X

A = Archer	@ = Castle	O = Castle Courtyard
	P = Prince	D = Duke	N = Knight
	K = King	I = Pikeman	S = Sargeant
	Q = Squire

To move, say, a blue Duke from C22 to O22, your message, in
email, should say "D:C22-O22".  To execute an entire turn, one might
say "I:B12-B5  I:O15-T15  N:A20-E16  A(shooting):E23-E21".  If one
player executes an invalid move (moves a knight piece over hills,
shoots over castle walls, etc...) it is up to the other player to inform
the first-- and player one informs the first.  If, for some reason,
an invalid move goes unnoticed by the second player by the time it's the
first player's move again, the invalid move stands.  (This is to prevent
backtracking several turns.)

SETTING UP THE BOARD:

The game field is made up of four pieces.  We'll call them,
arbitrarily, Pieces A, B, C, and D.  When starting the game, one
player sets up the board to his/her liking, the other moves first.
Each of these pieces may be placed in one of four directions, in
one of four positions (as you should know if you own or play the game).
I've assigned each piece a North, South, East, and West side for
conveniance's sake.  Once you've determined, from your own copy of the
game, which pieces are A, B, C, and D, the player responsible for
board setup will simply state which piece is in which position, and
in which direction it's "North" is facing.
	Also important: The TOP HALF is always the BROWN side, and the
BOTTOM HALF is always the BLUE side, unless otherwise agreed.

Positions:

---------
	| 1 | 2 |
	|---|---|
	| 3 | 4 |
	---------

Piece A:				Piece B:

North					    North
  . . . . . . . . . . . .		  . . . . . . . . . . . .
  . . . % # . . . . . . .		  . # # . . . . . . . . .
  . . . . . . . . . . # .		  . . . . . . . . . . . .
  . . . . . # . . . . # .		  . . . % . . . . . . . .
W . . . # . # . . . . . . E		W . . % . . . . . # . . # E
e # . . . % # # # . . . . a		e . . . . # # # . # % . # a
s # . . . . # . # . . % . s		s . . . . . . . # . . . . s
t . . . . . . . % . . # . t		t . . . . # . . # # . . . t
  . . . . . . . . . # # .		  . . . . . . . . . . . .
  . . . . . . . . . . . .		  . # # . . . . . . . . .
  . . . . . . . . . . . .		  . . # # % . . . . . . .
  . . . . # . . . . . . .		  . . . . . . . . . . . .
	South					    South

Piece C:

North					    North
  . . . . . . . . % . . . 		  . # . . . . . # # . . .
  . # . . . . . . . . . .		  . . . . . . . . # . . .
  . . . . . . . . . . . . 		  . . . . . . . . . . . .
  . . . . . # % . . . . .		  . . . . . . . # . . . .
W . # . . . . . . . . . . E		W . . . . . # # . . . . # E
e . % . . . . . . . . . . a		e . . # # . # % # # . . % a
s . . # # . . % # . . . . s		s . . % # . . . . # . . . s
t . . . # # . # . . . . . t		t . . . . . . . . . . . . t
  . . . . # # . . . . . .		  . . . . . . . . . . . .
  . # # . . . . . . . . .		  . . . . . # . . . . . .
  . . . . . . . # # . . #		  . . . . % # . . . . . .
  . . . . . . . . . . . .		  . . . . . . . . . . . .
	South					    South

Example setup:
		Position 1: B.  North=East
		Position 2: C.  North=North
		Position 3: A.  North=South
		Position 4: D.  North=East

GAMEPLAY:

Two players who own this game may contact each other however they
find convenient.  (rec.games.pbm seems a nice choice...)  They decide
via coin toss or other random method (involving a certain amount of trust
over email ;) who moves first and who sets up the board.  After the
board is set up, both players deploy their men and mail each other their
positions at an agreed time.  (Simultaneous mailing is preferable, although
if both players trust each other not to cheat and look at their opponent's
setup before designing their own, they can work it out as they please)

Player 1) I call heads!

Player 2) It's tails.  You set up the board.  I'm blue, you're
		  brown.

Player 1) 1: B, N=E -- 2: C, N=N -- 3: A, N=S -- 4: D, N=E
		  Mail me your piece positions at 6:00 PST!

(this sets up the board as in the example setup and is
		the preferred notation)

Player 2) I:C15 -- I:E15 -- I:P15 -- I:V14 -- S:J17 -- S:T14 -- A:R22
	(at 6:00) P:J15 -- D:D18 -- N:P17 -- N:G14 -- Q:S22 -- K:T20
		  @:T20 -- O:T21

Player 1) i:G11 -- i:H10 -- i:N9 -- i:O9 -- s:I8 -- s:U9 -- a:Q6
	(at 6:00) p:F7 -- d:R8 -- n:U10 -- n:O6 -- q:P4 -- k:Q7
		  @:Q7 -- O:Q6

(setup now complete)

Player 2) I:C15-C11 -- I:E15-E11 .... (etc...)

Player 1) i:G11-E11 .... (etc...)

(game continues until one side wins)

New Play By Email "Feudal" by Avalon Hill

Referenced By