20 Moves to Roc

"Your move," the old man declared, flashing a toothy grin. His guest, a younger fellow from a neighboring clan surveyed the board. He was told this man was a Roc master, but it did not look so bad yet. Sure, he had 2 pieces beside the island, but there were the defending pieces ready, and three pieces on the opposite corner, about to push into his island. He moved the defending pieces forward, lifting the little sea shells and placing them next to his opponent's shells. The two reserve pieces did not need to be moved, the ones in the middle he pushed ahead another square. He leaned over to look at his opponent's island. He pushed one shell next to the island corner, and pushed the attacking shells on the right corner forward. "Your go," he told the old man, lifting his hand off the last shell.
The old man looked at the board for a moment, and then moved his defending pieces. The young guest looked in shock as the shells arrayed to box one attacking piece, and push the other two back into the center. The pieces that had seemed useless were moved, and suddenly it looked like the old man would have an attack on both sides of the island. And though the young guest had achieved first contact with his defenders, the saw formation used by the old man ensured and he would again be pushed back. "Seven moves to roc," he said, lifting his hand off the last shell. "Your move."

20 Moves to Roc is the most popular variant of a popular Tescarana strategy board game. Often shortened simply to "Roc", all variants of the game follow the same basic principle. The game is considered part of Tescarana cultural heritage, and is enjoyed by all classes of society. However, being a master Roc player is considered particularly desirable for a chief, for it showcases their ability to think tactically.
The game is played on a gridded board, with both players having an island, and an equal amount of pieces that begin the game at their end of the board, behind the island. On each turn, the players may move each piece one grid square in any non-diagonal direction, but may not move a piece to a square that was occupied by their own piece when the turn started. The goal is to move as many pieces as possible behind the opponent's island, and prevent the opponent from doing the same by blocking their pieces. Furthermore, any piece that is not moved during a turn is removed from play, unless it is at the end of the board.
At the end of the 20th turn, all pieces from the middle of the board are swept away, and the remaining pieces counted. Whichever player has more pieces behind the opponent's board is the winner. If the count is equal, the game ends in a draw.
The standard layout of a Roc grid is 10 squares wide and 14 squares long, with 2 home rows for each player, and in front of the home rows, an impassable island that is traditionally 3 squares long and 2 squares wide, leaving a 4 square passage on each side. Players have 12 pieces that they may place anywhere on their 2 home rows at the start of the game. A common alternate rule is to allow 3 pieces to be deployed on island rows, referred to as "Uvilane rules". The pieces may simply be shaped stones, often with a dot of ink or dye to tell the sides apart. Finer sets are often made out of mollusc shells, or carved little boat statuettes. Wooden pieces are also used, but are less popular. Moving first is considered an advantage in Roc, even though it also forces the player to deploy first, and it is common to offer the first move to the opponent as a gesture of not just sportsmanship but also confidence. In most cases, both participants will make this offer and the first mover is determined by a drawing of straws or other random method.

Tactics

The basic goal of Roc is to move your own pieces to the opponent's home row, and prevent your opponent from moving their pieces to your home row. Further, all pieces must be moved every turn, unless they are in either player's first home row. The island presents an obstacle that makes one's home rows easier to defend.
One of the first concepts taught to novice Roc players is First Contact. In general, ensuring that you are the one to move a piece into a square adjacent to your opponent's piece means that they must then move their own pieces in disadvantageous ways. Setting up first contact is important for pushing to the opponent's side of the board, and breaking through island defenses. Novice players are often inclined to attempt to force draws by simply moving their pieces back and forth around their island, and attempting to prevent the opponent from breaking through. However, the usual result of this is that the opponent, who controls the center and has more space to maneuver will simply ensure first contact and in some cases even box the defending pieces in.
A piece is considered Boxed if it is enclosed on four sides and cannot move to a valid square, and will thus be removed from play at the end of the turn. Boxing is rare in high level games, as it usually requires significant mistakes. However, the threat of boxing is still used to force other moves.
The starting deployment offers its own strategy. Deploying a piece in the first home row means that it can be kept in reserve and does not have to be moved. However, deploying in the second row effectively saves one move towards moving to the enemy's home row. The home row squares directly behind the island are called Dead Water and it is rare that any deployment uses them because usually deploying in dead water wastes moves to no advantage.

Primary Related Location

Fahrig

Related Ethnicities

• Tescarana