Bear Knight, page 34
The Turning of the Spheres – The ceremony during which newly promoted cadet scouts are assigned to their sphere. Spheres are chosen for cadets by the headmaster or the head of the Navigators’ Sphere, who prayerfully listens to the Helper. Lightraiders rarely change spheres, but it is not unheard-of.
HOW TO PLAY VANQUISH
HISTORY
Vanquish began in the manor houses of Talania, first played by northern nobles, who quickly refined it from a raucous game of knocking wooden balls off a table to a respectable game of battlefield honor. Popular knowledge credits a Fulcor duchess with the single biggest change to the game. A tinker by nature, she crafted padded leather rails and woven “pots” and added them to her dining table to stop the intolerable noise of wooden balls crashing to her floor.
Common folk soon adopted the game, and it remains a favored Talanian pastime, especially during the winter months. The colors and patterns of the balls are generally the same throughout the land. Most Vanquish sets include an army painted with stripes and an army painted with whirls (Fig. 1). The “commander” is a white ball used by both players to control the soldiers. The “dragon” is a solid black ball. Thanks to a jest about his top general by one of the first nobles to play, the commander must be spurred to motion by “poking him with a stick.”
Rules vary slightly from region to region, and on Tarlan Plains and in the Eagle Peaks, the game is called Captains and Corporals. What follows here are the rules used by lightraiders who have added the use of a starlot to bring additional strategic choices to the game.
FIG. 1
GAME BASICS
Vanquish is a battle between two armies. To win, one player or team must vanquish all the other player’s soldiers followed by the dragon (black ball). Each army includes four corporals and three captains. Vanquish balls in Talania have no numbers. However, in our world, the game may be played with a standard pocket billiards sixteen-ball set (pool set), and the numbers make it easy to remember which colors are the captains and which are the corporals.
GAME TERMS
The Armies (based on a standard pocket billiards set)
Solids (representing Whirls)
• Corporals – Yellow (1), Blue (2), Red (3), Purple (4)
• Captains – Orange (5), Green (6), Burgundy (7)
Stripes
• Corporals – Yellow (9), Blue (10), Red (11), Purple (12)
• Captains – Orange (13), Green (14), Burgundy (15)
Dragon – Black (8)
Commander – White (cue ball)
Sticks – What we call “cues.”
Challenge – The act of casting a starlot onto the field of battle.
Pot – A side or corner pocket.
Pot (verb) – To send a ball into one of the pots.
Vanquish – The name of the game.
Vanquish (verb) – To send a soldier or the dragon legally into a pot, thus removing it from the battlefield for the remainder of the game.
Getting Roasted – Losing the game by potting the dragon early.
Battle Line – The imaginary line joining the second diamonds from a player’s end of the table (Fig. 2).
Territory – The area behind a player’s battle line (Fig. 2).
Botch – (verb or noun) A foul or mistake such as striking an opposing captain with the commander before the opposing corporals have been vanquished, striking your own soldier first, or missing entirely.
FIG. 2
GAME SETUP (FIG. 2)
Picture the table as a battlefield. Each player takes one end of the table for his or her “territory.” An imaginary line connecting the second diamonds from the end is a player’s “battle line.”
The four corporals of each army are lined up on their own battle line, evenly spaced. The three captains are lined up behind the corporals, evenly spaced, on an imaginary line connecting the first diamonds from the end. The dragon starts in the exact middle of the table.
GAME START
Roll a starlot. The player with the highest roll chooses who starts first. The starting player must take the first shot with the commander ball (cue ball) from behind his or her battle line—meaning anywhere in his or her territory, behind the corporals.
The starting player may only target the opposing army’s corporals.
After the first shot, the commander (cue ball) is played from wherever it lands unless a botch is committed.
GENERAL RULES
Targeting Order – Players must target the opposing soldiers and the dragon in this order.
• Corporals
• Captains
• Dragon
• Captains may not be targeted until all corporals in their army are vanquished. The dragon may not be targeted until the entire opposing army is vanquished.
• This order applies only to the first soldier struck by the commander during each shot.
• Chain reaction shots are legal even if accidental. Soldiers vanquished by accident or design remain vanquished as long as the first ball struck in the sequence was a legal target. The dragon may also be used in chain reactions after it is awake.
The Dragon – The dragon must be vanquished after the entire opposing army is vanquished. The dragon starts at the center of the table and is “asleep.” A sleeping dragon may only be struck if it is the player’s last legal target. If inadvertently struck, the dragon is considered “awake” and dangerous. Waking the dragon is bad, and is therefore a botched shot (see Botch or Botched Shot). If a player pots the dragon before vanquishing the rest of the opposing army, the player is “roasted” and loses the game. Players are not required to “call the pot” into which they intend to send the dragon (see below).
Calling Pots – The fog of battle and its consequences are recognized throughout Talania. A soldier struck in the leg by an arrow who then trips and falls into a ravine is still dead, and the archer, though he missed the heart, may still claim a victory. In no region, including Keledev, are Vanquish players required to “call pots,” meaning to designate the pot into which they intend to send a soldier or the dragon. While newer games that employ the same table include variations of this rule, in Tanelethar, those who suggest calling pots in a game of Vanquish are traditionally locked in the town stocks and pelted with rotten vegetables. In Keledev, a person who suggests calling pots in Vanquish is quietly reminded that if not for the Rescuer and the core strengths of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, they too would be locked in the town stocks and pelted with rotten vegetables.
Challenge – A starlot may be thrown onto the table as a challenge before an opposing player’s shot. The challenge may be thrown at any time before the opposing player begins the motion of striking the commander with the stick tip. A successful challenger may move one soldier anywhere within an area between the imaginary lines joining the two nearest pairs of diamonds (Fig. 3). A moved soldier must be at least one index finger width away from the rail and other soldiers, the dragon, or the commander. Players are granted only one successful challenge during a game, but may challenge as many shots as desired until a challenge is successful. Players may not challenge a shot that legally targets the dragon.
FIG. 3
Challenge steps
• Throw the starlot onto the table and declare “Challenge” followed by a declaration of the soldier you intend to protect.
• A seven (7) or higher is a success (see Challenge above).
• With a result of two (2) to six (6), nothing happens. Remove the starlot from the battlefield, and play continues.
• A one (1) is a “mishap.” The soldier that the challenging player hoped to move is vanquished and potted. If the player mistakenly tried to protect a captain while any of his or her corporals remained on the field, one of the corporals must be vanquished instead. Player’s choice.
• A ten (0 on the starlot) is an “achievement.” The opposing player’s turn is over without taking the shot, and the challenger has the option of either moving the threatened ball or leaving it in place. The challenger begins his or her turn.
• No matter the results of the challenge roll, the commander remains where it is.
• Note – To challenge after a botch, the challenging player must wait for the opposing player to place the commander and remove his or her hand.
Botch or Botched Shot – All possible botches are listed below. When a player botches a shot, control of the commander moves to the other player. The controlling player moves the commander to any spot behind his or her battle line (his or her “territory”). This player may target any legal ball on the table (see Targeting Order), no matter where the ball sits relative to the battle line. Thus, if an enemy soldier has wandered into your territory, you may place the commander near it and vanquish it. Once you remove your hand from the commander, the ball is considered placed and may not be moved again. Any opposing soldier potted during a botch must be returned to that soldier’s game-starting position or as close to that position as possible (a finger width away from other soldiers, the dragon, or the commander). Any of the botching player’s own soldiers who are vanquished during a botch remain vanquished.
List of Botches
• Striking any soldier or the dragon out of order (see Targeting Order).
• Missing all soldiers entirely (must at least contact a legal target).
• Vanquishing your own soldier (such soldiers remain vanquished).
• Potting the commander.
• Pushing the commander (as opposed to striking the commander).
• Striking the commander with anything other than the stick tip.
• “Startling” the commander—causing the commander to jump. The commander may not be intentionally jumped off the table surface.
• Intentionally delaying the game by challenging every shot (subjective).
• Waking the dragon (occurs only once per game; once the dragon is awake, striking the dragon after striking a legal target is allowed).
• Double hit (hitting the commander twice with the stick).
• Taking a shot without keeping at least one foot on the floor.
• Throwing a starlot to challenge a shot after the commander is struck.
• Bumping any soldier, dragon, or the commander with any part of the body and causing that ball to move more than an index finger width.
• Unsportsmanlike conduct (acting contrary to what is just and good according to the Sacred Scrolls, or in our case, God’s Word).
• Knocking any soldier, the dragon, or the commander completely off the table (this is known as the Duchess Rule).
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The last year since the release of Wolf Soldier and the first new games in the Lightraiders Realm (Starlots and First Watch) has been exciting to say the least. Other adjectives might be chaotic, crazy, and blessed. God has added wonderful people to our team, and as I write this, the new full Lightraiders Adventure Bible Study system is nearly ready for launch.
With Bear Knight releasing so close to the launch of the Lightraiders system, I wanted to reiterate a few points noted in the Wolf Soldier author’s note and elsewhere.
First, as I’ve said before, don’t get bogged down in allegory. The Rescuer represents Christ, and the Keledan represent the Church, but the Rescuer is not Christ, and the Keledan are not His Church. With that said, I did intend for the themes in these stories to apply in allegorical ways.
Second, sacred verses in our realm are designed to teach Scripture memory and application. Lightraiders declare these verses, resulting in fantasy effects that relate to real-life applications. Neither the characters in the stories nor the players in the games are using these verses as “magic spells.” Battle in the fantasy world represents spiritual battle in our world. Physical effects there represent spiritual applications here. In the fantasy realm, sacred verses are prayers and declarations of the Rescuer’s power, not that of the lightraiders. The Rescuer, as the Christ figure, may or may not apply his power according to his own will.
Third, I want to address the question of “Why are Keledan forbidden from killing Aladoth?” This returns us to the idea that the physical in the fantasy world often represents the spiritual in our world. Try relating a wounded lightraider stabbing an Aladoth in the gut to a hurt believer lashing out in anger at a non-believer on social media. Love is not the absence of offense, but offense for its own sake is not love. We don’t hide God’s truth during spiritual debates (or ever), but like the lightraiders, we are not to strike with killing blows when debating those we were commissioned to rescue.
Finally, some thanks. Thank You, Lord, for Your blessings and this opportunity. Thanks to my wife, Cindy, for her love, support, and hard work on this book and all things Lightraiders. Thanks to James R. Brown for his hard work and inspiration in developing the Lightraiders Realm. Thanks to my agent, Harvey, for letting me make this leap and helping make it happen. And thank you to John, David, Kerry, Jennifer, Julian, and all the Lightraiders teens for their hard work, patience, and constant encouragement. I’m so grateful for all of you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As a former fighter pilot, stealth pilot, and tactical deception officer, James R. Hannibal is no stranger to secrets and adventure. He is the award-winning author of thrillers, mysteries, and fantasies for adults and children, and he is the developer of Lightraider Academy games. As a pastor’s kid in Colorado Springs, he guinea-pigged every youth discipleship program of the 1980s, but the one that engaged him and shaped him most as a Christ-follower and Kingdom warrior was DragonRaid, by Dick Wulf—the genesis of the Lightraider world.
James R. Hannibal, Bear Knight
