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Junqi(simplified Chinese: 军棋; traditional Chinese: 軍棋, literally "Military Chess"), its 2-player version also called Luzhanqi (simplified Chinese: 陆战棋; traditional Chinese: 陸戰棋, literally "Land Battle Chess"), is a multiplayer board game from China. It bears many similarities to Stratego. It is a non-perfect abstract strategy game of partial information, since each player has only limited knowledge concerning the disposition of the opposing pieces.

Rules

There are many variants of Junqi rules, but the basic rules are generally the same.

Players and Game Board

There are two kinds of Junqi boards: the 2-players version and the 4-players version. Only 2 players are allowed on the 2-players board, while the 4-players board allows either two, three, or four players.

An umpire is usually required, thus, for example, a 2-players game actually requires three people to play. However, under some variant rules, an umpire is not required, and when played online, the computer acts as the referee - the reason Junqi is more popular online.

When played with four players, it is a 2v2 game, with the two players facing each other(Top and Bottom, Left and Right) becomes allies. The outcome of the game is decided on a team basis, e.g. even after you had your Flag captured and removed from the game, if your ally captures both opponents' Flags, you(and your ally) still win. You only lose if both you and your ally are removed from the game.

Features:

Grids:
- Posts - a normal grid. Pieces can move on or off these grids at will, and can be attacked and captured on them.
- Camps – a piece in a Camp cannot be attacked.
- Headquarters – the Flag must be placed in one of these two grids. Pieces placed inside a Headquarters cannot move; Pieces become immobile upon entering a Headquarters during gameplay.

Lines:
- Roads - a piece can only move one grid along a Road.
- Railroads – a piece can move freely along a straight (except for Sappers - see below) Railroad, as long as its path is not obstructed by another piece.
  - Note the 4 cursive Railroads on the board is considered "straight". That is, a piece (even if not a Sapper) can make the move depicted by the bright yellow arrow in one turn. (But no further along the direction at which the arrow points.)

Pieces

Each player has 25 pieces, which are identical except for their color. The stronger pieces capture weak pieces. They are listed below ordered by their strength, the Field Marshal being most powerful piece. Each player has:

1 Marshal / Commander (literally; same below) (司令)
- If a player's Marshal is captured, s/he must reveal that in which Headquarter is his/her Flag placed.
1 General / Corps Commander(军长)
2 Major General / Division Commanders (师长)
2 Brigadier / Brigade Commanders (旅长)
2 Colonel / Regiment Commanders (团长)
2 Lieutenant Colonel / Battalion Commanders(营长)
3 Captain / Company Commanders (连长)
3 Platoon Leaders (排长)

Additionally, there are four special pieces:

3 Sappers (工兵)
- Sapper, being the weakest piece, can be captured by all pieces above. However, only a Sapper can capture a Mine.
- All other movable pieces can only move freely along a straight railroad, but sappers can take turnings.
2 Bombs (炸弹)
- Bombs kills both pieces upon contacting another piece, regardless of what the other piece is.
- Bombs cannot be placed on the front row.
3 Mines (地雷)
- Mines cannot move, but defeats all other pieces, except for a Sapper (which captures the Mine) or a Bomb (which kills both the Bomb and the Mine).
- Mines can only be placed in the first (the row with Headquarters) and second row.
1 Flag (军旗)
- Flags must be placed in a Headquarter and cannot move.
- Any piece can capture a Flag. (A Bomb still kills itself when capturing the Flag.)
- If a player's Flag is captured, s/he loses(when played with two players), or is removed from the game(if played with four players), or both(if played with three players).

Setup

All players arrange and place all their pieces in their own Posts and Headquarters, with the marked side only visible to themselves.

Gameplay

Moves:
- Players can make one move per turn, that is, either move one piece to its adjacent space along roads, or move one piece freely along straight railroads.
- If a player tries to move a piece into a grid occupied by an opposing piece, the umpire compares the rank of the two pieces in question. The piece with greater rank (see Pieces) takes/remains at the grid, while the piece with lesser rank is captured and removed from game. If they are of the same rank, then both of them are removed.
- A player may pass his turn if s/he does not wish to move. However, a player can only pass 4 times per game. A fifth pass equals to resign. (Online games normally have a time limit for each move, usually 30 seconds. If a player exceeds his/her time limit, then s/he automatically passes.)

A player may resign if s/he deems his/her situation hopeless. However, his/her ally(if played with 4 players) may choose to continue. If his/her ally wins, the resigned player can still win.

If a player's Flag is captured, then all that player's pieces are removed from game.

Apart from win/lose, the game can also draw:
- Players can request for a draw on their turns. If all players accept, the game is drawn. If one or more players refuse, then the game must continue. Note that in 4-players games, a removed player still has the right to refuse a draw.
- If a game is played for 40 moves(not turns - 4 players each making 10 moves count as 40 moves) without a capture, then the game is automatically drawn, similar to the Chess rule.
- A special circumstance is that if neither of the last remaining two players has a legal move(hence lose), then the game is considered drawn.
  - For example, Player A has only a Bomb left in hand, and Player B has only one piece left too. Now:

a) A moves his Bomb to capture B's last piece.

b) Both pieces are removed from game.

c) Now it's B's turn and he has no legal moves, so s/he should lose.

d) However, since A has no legal moves either, the game is drawn.

Variants

There are many variant rules of Junqi. Before a game, players usually decide which rule to use.

Common

"Flying Bombs": Under this rule, Bombs move the same way Sappers do.
"Explosive Mines": Under this rule, An attempt by pieces (other than a Sapper) to capture a Mine kills both the moving piece and the Mine, as opposed to killing only the moving piece. A Sapper still captures a Mine.
- Explosive Mines rule is more common in 2-players game.

Two players

"Flag Carrier": Under this regional variant, games are not won by merely capturing Flags. In order to win, one has to let a piece "take" the Flag with it, and carrys it back to his/her own Flag. A piece carrying the Flag moves normally, and if it is captured, the Flag returns to the original Headquarters it was in. Also, under this variant, pieces do not become immobile upon entering a Headquarters.

Four players

"Allied Visible": Under this rule, a player has the right to know his/her ally's piece arrangement, i.e. the rank of all his/her ally's pieces. (In online games, allied players' pieces are simply made visible to each other.)
"All Visible": Under this rule, all players place their pieces with their marked side up, that is, making all pieces' rank visible to all players, effectively making it an abstract strategy game of full information.

Strategy

Stalking Marshals

Marshals in Junqi are very similar to Marshals in Stratego: they are both the most powerful piece in their respective games, and only a certain piece (Bomb in Junqi and Spy in Stratego) other than another Marshal can capture it.

A special variant of Junqi is "Blind Junqi(Blind Luzhanqi)", very similar to Banqi for Xiangqi.

Pieces are shuffled and placed face-down over all Posts and Headquarters of a 2-player board. It is played by 2 players and no umpire is required.
A player at his/her turn may either turn over a face-down piece, or move a piece of his/her own.
The color of the first piece turned over determines that player's color. His opponent plays the opposing color.
Pieces inside Headquarters do not become immobile.
All pieces move the same way as standard Junqi, but a face-down piece cannot be attacked. There are some regional variants:
- Under some variants, Sappers can capture Bombs like Mines, without being removed itself.
- Under some variants, Mines can move and act like Bombs.
- Different variants treat Flags differently, but generally it is the same as the "Flag Carrier" rule, i.e. the Flag cannot move and has to be carried back to a player's own Headquarters to win. However, if the piece carrying the Flag is captured, the Flag remains where it is, as opposed to returning to its original position.

External links

Booklet of two-player version rules at AncientChess.com