Page 1 of 1

Magpie 7x7

Posted: Sun May 08, 2016 12:25 pm
by Hagbard
Magpie was outlined by the author Nigel Suckling in his book "The Leprechaun Companion", 1999 (hat tip: Damian Walker) and is a Hnefatafl 7x7 game with a strong king and win in corner. But the king can only move one step at a time and can be captured on the edge.

Nigel Suckling gives three intitial orderings for the game, which we tournament tested with the result:

1. (here called Magpie line 7x7)

Code: Select all

x . b . b . x
. . . . . . .
b . . w . . b
. . w k w . .
b . . w . . b
. . . . . . .
x . b . b . x
Balance -1.41

2. (here called Magpie cross 7x7)

Code: Select all

x . . b . . x
. . . b . . .
. . . w . . .
b b w k w b b
. . . w . . .
. . . b . . .
x . . b . . x
Balance -1.03

3. (here called Magpie circle 7x7)

Code: Select all

x . . b . . x
. b . . . b .
. . . w . . .
b . w k w . b
. . . w . . .
. b . . . b .
x . . b . . x
Balance -1.61

Nigel Suckling informs that setup no. 1 should work best. Our tests, however, showed that all three setups work but no. 2 is best, with game balance 1.00

Re: Magpie 7x7

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2020 9:18 am
by Flying Fish
Created my own Magpie set a while ago:

Image