Brandubh2.5W Official Rules Draft:

  1. A game is played between two players; one player (White) plays the King and his four defenders, while the other player (Black) plays the eight attackers. The game begins with the pieces set up on a board of 7 rows of 7 squares each, as shown above.
  2. The central square (the Castle) and the corners are restricted for all pieces except for the King, meaning only the King may occupy or pass through them. When the King is not occupying the Castle, it is hostile to all pieces except for the King. Corners are hostile to all pieces.
  3. Players take turns moving one of their pieces, with White having the first turn. Each piece is permitted to move to any unoccupied, unrestricted square along the same row or column so long as it does not pass through an occupied or restricted square.
  4. A piece other than the King is eliminated and removed from the board if it is flanked horizontally or vertically on opposite sides by two enemy pieces or an enemy piece and a hostile square. The flanking maneuver must be performed by the opponent; therefore, a piece may safely move to a square flanked by two enemy pieces without being eliminated. Multiple pieces may be eliminated simultaneously. Additionally, the King may participate in eliminating Black pieces.
  5. When inside the Castle, the King is only eliminated if he is surrounded by four horizontally or vertically adjacent black pieces. Otherwise, the King is eliminated like all other pieces.
  6. White wins if the King escapes to a corner. Black wins if the King is eliminated or if the Black pieces completely surround all remaining White pieces, forming an unbreakable barrier preventing the King from reaching any corner.
  7. If the same board position occurs five times, then Black wins. If a player has no legal moves, they lose.
  8. Matches are played in sets of two games, with players switching sides after the first game. If a player wins both games then they win the match. If each player wins one game, then the player who won in a fewer number of moves wins the match.