Epaminondas, invented by Robert Abbott, is often described as a modern classic. The game is named after a Theban general credited with innovations to the phalanx which led to the Theban victory over Sparta in 371 B.C. Epaminondas was originally published in 1969 under the name Crossings in Sid Sackson's A Gamut of Games. In 1975 Abbott released a revised version of the game, now called Epaminondas, played on a larger board and with a modified capturing rule. The original Crossings is included as a variant in this package. Both Epaminondas and Crossings are described in Wayne Schmittberger's New Rules for Classic Games (1992). Epaminondas was featured in the third issue of Abstract Games Magazine (Autumn 2000) and favorably reviewed in David Parlett's Oxford History of Boardgames (1999). The game is profiled at Joao Pedro Neto's World of Abstract Games website at www.di.fc.ul.pt/~jpn/gv and is available for play at Richard's play-by-email server at www.gamerz.net/pbmserv. To learn more about the game, and to check out Robert Abbott's collection of mazes, puzzles, and games, visit his website at www.logicmazes.com.
 
Epaminondas is played on a 14x12 board. Each player begins with 28 pieces occupying two rows on opposite sides of the board. Motion in the game is performed by phalanx. A phalanx in the game consists of a line of adjacent pieces (diagonal or orthogonal). A single piece can be considered a phalanx of one. A phalanx moves along the line on which it is situated, forward or backward, any number of spaces up unto the number of pieces contained in the phalanx. For example, four adjacent friendly pieces on a common diagonal can move from one to four spaces, as a group, along the diagonal in either direction. Spaces moved through must be empty and the lead piece in the phalanx must come to rest on an empty space or a space occupied by an enemy. In the latter case, the enemy piece and all enemy pieces forming a phalanx behind it in the direction of motion will be captured, but only if the moving phalanx is longer than the attacked phalanx. If the moving phalanx is shorter than or equal in length to the attacked phalanx, the move cannot be made.
 
A part of a phalanx can be moved provided the part is itself a phalanx. For example, if there are five adjacent friendly pieces in a row, two pieces at one end can move forward one or two spaces as a phalanx of two, or three pieces can move forward up to three spaces, and so on. Pieces can be part of multiple phalanxes. A single piece moves like a King in chess, one step to any adjacent empty square, but it can never capture.
 
The object of the game is to move a piece onto the far row (row 12 for White, row 1 for Black). When a player moves a piece onto the far row, the opponent is given a grace move to equalize the situation by capturing the piece just moved or by moving a piece itself onto its far row. A win is declared when a player has a piece on the far row (or one more piece than the opponent has on its far row) and the opponent has completed the grace move without equalizing the situation. Repetition is a loss.
 
The Epaminondas 8x8 variant is, naturally, played on an 8x8 board. The game Crossings follows the original 1969 rules contained in A Gamut of Games. These rules are the same as for Epaminondas except that the board is 8x8, a moving phalanx captures only the first enemy piece in the attacked phalanx, and a piece that reaches the far row is frozen and can neither move nor be captured.
 
 
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