Sir Terence David John ‘Terry’ Pratchett, was a much-loved author of fantasy novels who died in March.
Pratchett is best known for his Discworld series which spans literally dozens of volumes.
And that brings us to this week’s game Thud.
Thud is an abstract game based on Pratchett’s Discworld books.
The game focuses in on the storyline of the Battle of Koom Valley between the Dwarfs and the Trolls.
Two players play on a 165 octagonal shaped board as either the Dwarfs or the Trolls.
In the case of Thud eight Trolls start the game in the middle of the board as they have been ambushed by 32 Dwarves (surrounding them at the outer edge of the board).
Trolls and Dwarves have different ways of moving and capturing.
Thud should be played as a pair of contests.
The battle is over when both players agree that no more captures can be made by continuing to play, or when one player has no more valid moves to make. At this point the players count score: the dwarfs score one-point for each surviving dwarf, and the trolls score four for each remaining troll, with the difference being the ‘final’ score. The players should then swap sides to play another round, and the sum of their final scores for the two battles determines the overall victor.
For the 2005 rerelease of Thud, a substantially different game was devised that could be played with the same board and pieces, known as Koom Valley Thud.
In the Koom version a ‘rock’ is introduced, and while still unequal in size, the two forces start facing across the board, more like chess.
For the dwarfs to win they must move the rock to the far side of the valley.
For the trolls to win they must capture the rock by placing three trolls adjacent to it (in any direction including diagonally).
If neither side can achieve their objective the game is drawn.
Movement is the same as the original Thud except that trolls may now move up to three spaces in any direction.
Dwarfs may move the ‘rock’ instead of moving a dwarf piece. It may move only one square in any direction. To be moved it must be next to a dwarf and it must also be next to a dwarf at the end of its move.
A troll captures a dwarf by trampling over it. It moves in a straight line from a square next to the dwarf, through the square the dwarf is on and lands on the empty square immediately beyond.
Dwarfs capture a troll by moving a dwarf so that the troll is trapped between two dwarfs in any straight line (including diagonally). The three pieces, two dwarfs and a troll, must all be in line. Since a troll can rumble over dwarves this is a tricky capture.
Captures are only made when the capturing side moves a piece. With the two versions of Thud playable on the same board this is a great one as it offers build in variety. The game play is different in each version, and the unequal forces are a mechanic not used extensively in abstract strategy games so it is interesting to explore.
