The Game of Champions

The Game of Champions is a strategic two person game played with a standard deck of cards. It is based on the premise and simplicity of the popular card game War, but introduces strategy and logic similar to Chess. All ties are settled with a match of Roshambo (Rock, Papers, Scissors).

Basic Game Play

;Object of the game: Destroy your opponents army by defeating their battalions.;Number of Players: Two, possible Three-player variation;The Deck: Standard 52 card deck;Rank of Suit: Suits have no numerical value or ranking, but do have specific "Advantages";Rank of cards (descending): 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. Face cards are not used during the hand (battle)

The Deal: A match of Roshambo determines the dealer. From a shuffled deck 15 cards are dealt to each player. The remaining cards are placed face down in what is called the Reserve Pile. The players first lay down all the face cards including Aces followed by distributing all their reinforcements amongst the face cards. A player is not required to place reinforcements on every face cards but all reinforcements must be associated with a face card. A face card with reinforcements is called a Battalion. If either player does not receive a face card in the deal then the cards the game must be restarted and a new deal must occur until at least one face card is dealt to each player. The player with the least amount of face cards begins, if both players have the same face cards then a match of Roshambo determines the first player.

Player's Turn:
A turn consists of three moves in the following order:
1. Fortify: The player draws one card from the Reserve Pile and places it on any face card to add to that battalion.
2. Use Advantages: Every battalion (1 Face card and associated armies) is commanded by a face card(Ace, Jack, Queen, King) and the commander of that battalion has different advantages. Advantages can only be used by battalions, face cards with reinforcements. If you have face cards without reinforcements then their advantage can not be used until it becomes a battalion. See: Battalion Advantages
3. Battle/Fortify: A battle is initiated by choosing the battalion the current player wishes to use in battle and one battalion from the opponent the player wishes to attack. Both players then pick up all reinforcements in their battalions into their hand leaving the commander (Face Card) on the table. Both players then can order their battalions cards in any order they choose and once they are complete with ordering they place their battalion face down. Once both players battalions are face down the players enter battle mode, similar to the rules of war where each player turns over their top card and the highest card wins. The losing card is placed faced up in the casualty pile. The attacker can choose to stop the battle at anytime. If all of the defenders cards have been turned over and the attacker has more cards to play and wishes to continue the defender must recycle their remaining cards in their original order until the attacker chooses to stop. If two cards are turned over with the same value a battle of Roshambo determines the winner. A player can alternately choose to fortify again instead of starting a battle.

Battalion Advantages

All battalion advantages are optional and can only be used during a players turn.

Queen (Medic): If a battalion is commanded by a Queen and you are the attacker then you have the option to revive the last casualty of yours from a battle. If you do not have any casualties from battle then the Medic can not be used. Using this advantage ends your turn immediately. This advantage is only used after a player completes their attack.

Jack (Cavalry): All '2's in a battalion under the command of Jack become equal to 10 strong.

King (General): If any battalion is commanded by a King the player has the option to reinforce (move) up to any 3 of their cards to other face cards or existing battalions. This advantage is played before the player chooses to attack.

Ace (Spy): If any battalion is commanded by an Ace the player has the option to swap any two cards of the defenders between their existing battalions. Note: This is only swap one of the defenders cards with another of the defenders cards. Face Cards can not be swapped. This advantage is played before the player chooses to attack.

Additional Rules

* If a player has face cards that are not yet battalions, they can choose to turn the face card in at anytime during the game and can fortify by drawing one card from the reserve pile and placing it on any face card or existing battalion.
* Standing Rule: At any of event of a tie in the game, the win is settled by a match of Roshambo (Rock, Papers, Scissors)