War and Peace in Canaan”

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War and Peace in Canaan” Additional Material for “War and Peace in Canaan” An Educational Board Game that Connects Geography with Political and Military Affairs in Ancient Israel Charlie Trimm, Biola University (2018) Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. See as well: “’War and Peace in Canaan’: Connecting Geography with Political and Military Affairs in Ancient Israel through a Classroom Game,” Charlie Trimm, Teaching Theology and Religion, 21:4 (2018). Along with the basic rules included in the article, I have developed a variety of other materials. This document includes strategy notes for the basic version of the game, many variations for those who desire greater detail and complexity, and scenarios that model various battles in Canaan. Game Rules in Stages Page 2 Strategy Notes for “War and Peace in Canaan” page 10 Variations of “War and Peace in Canaan” page 12 Scenarios for “War and Peace in Canaan” page 19 Game Map page 25 1 “War and Peace in Canaan” Game Rules in Stages While some students would find the full rules helpful, many will find them overwhelming. This document breaks down the rules into manageable pieces so that the students can know the relevant rules for each turn. The rules are divided into three sections. The first section provides a very simplified introduction to the game for the first turn. The second set of rules covers stage one of the game (this technically also covers the first turn, but I provide only the simplified version for that turn). Finally, the third set of rules covers the second stage (turns 5-6). War and Peace in Canaan: Turn One 1. The Map The base map has several important components. The map is east oriented, partially for practical reasons but also because the Old Testament seems to have this orientation as well (one word for “south” also commonly means “on the right side” and a word for “north” commonly means” on the left side”). The various colonies are marked by grey lines or rivers, while the six cities are represented by castles. In game terms, a region is either a colony or a city. The road extends from the bottom right corner of the map to the top left either through the King’s Highway or the International Highway (see the rules below for benefits of traveling on the road). The hills are marked on the map, but do not play a role directly in game play. The border of Ephraim with the Coastal Plain and Shephelah is impassible. 2. Goal of the Game The goal of the game is to possess more sheep than any other city! See the current score at the bottom left of the map. 3. Acquiring Sheep Cities gain sheep either turn automatically (see the chart on the bottom left of the map) or through possessing colonies (the number of sheep each colony provides is marked on the map). 4. Chariots and Movement Cities begin with a certain number of chariots (marked on map in the color of your city) and acquire more chariots each turn (see chart at bottom left of map). This turn chariots may only move one spot and occupy a neighboring colony. You may send groups of chariots in different directions. In future turns chariots may move two regions (a region is a colony or a city) if the 2 first region is friendly or three regions if the first two are friendly and all three regions are on a road. 5. Combat To conquer a colony you must send at least the same number of chariots as the sheep value of the colony (the number of sheep that the colony provides each turn). Example: Gaza must move eight or more chariots to the Coastal Plain to conquer it because that colony provides eight sheep per turn. In future turns your chariots may attack the chariots of other cities (a die is rolled for each chariot and for each 1, 2, or 3 an enemy chariot is destroyed). 6. Diplomacy In stage one (turns 1-4), cities may make alliances, but these are non-binding. Cities can allow other cities to move their chariots through their colonies and allied cities may attack enemies together (control of the conquered colony goes entirely to the stronger ally). War and Peace in Canaan: Stage One Rules (Turns 2-4) 1. Immediate Goal At the end of stage one (turn four), the three cities with the most sheep will receive an extra 25 chariots. The goal of the game overall is to possess more sheep than any other city! See the current score at the bottom left of the map. 2. Couse of Play Each turn the instructor passes out an updated version of the map to each group and they are given time to talk to other groups and decide what they will do. The students make the following decisions each turn by writing their decisions on their own copy of the map: a. Will we buy chariots? If so, they write on their map how many they will buy. b. Will make an alliance with another city? They can send members as diplomats to talk with other groups about possible strategies. Alliances are marked on the map. c. Will we give sheep to another city? This would be done to secure an alliance and is marked on the map. d. Where will we move our chariots? They mark where each set of chariots will move and how many chariots will move. e. Will we use a special power? This is marked on the map at the specific location it will be used. 3 3. Acquiring Sheep Cities gain sheep either turn through their home city or through possessing colonies. 4. Chariots and Movement a. Acquiring chariots Each city has a certain amount of military power, symbolized by chariots. While chariots were mainly beneficial in open areas, they were still the symbol of military force during this time period. Each city receives a certain number of chariots per turn in their home city. Cities can never give chariots to another city. Each city is also able to buy more chariots for the cost of two sheep during stage one (turns 1-4) and one sheep during stage two (turns 5-6). These chariots appear immediately in the home city. However, the limit of the number of chariots they are able to buy is the number of chariots they receive each turn (see chart above). In other words, they may never receive more than double the number of chariots they normally receive. Example: Tyre is only able to buy two extra chariots each turn because they receive two chariots each turn. b. Movement of chariots Chariots may move two regions each turn (a region is a colony or a city), but only if the first region is friendly (in other words, they may not conquer a colony and then move to another colony). To simulate the ease of movement on a highway, chariots may move three region if their entire movement is along a highway (marked by the broken black lines on the map). In sum, here are the possible options: i. From one region to an immediately adjacent hostile region to engage an enemy. ii. Through one friendly adjacent region and then into a hostile or friendly region. iii. If all three regions are connected by roads, chariots may move through two friendly regions into a third friendly or hostile region The solid black lines next to Ephraim may not be passed. Chariots may also not cross the Dead Sea or the Sea of Galilee. Chariots may move one extra region as a forced march, but ¼ of the chariots will be destroyed. For example, Gaza could move twenty chariots from their home city all the way to Lower Galilee (if the Coastal Plain, Sharon Plain, and Jezreel Valley were all friendly), but five of the chariots would be destroyed. 4 5. Combat To conquer a colony you must send at least the same number of chariots as the sheep value of the colony (the number of sheep that the colony provides each turn). In future turns your chariots may attack the chariots of other cities (a die is rolled for each chariot and for each 1, 2, or 3 an enemy chariot is destroyed). Whenever chariots from two cities occupy the same colony, combat begins. A die is rolled for each chariot. A roll of 1-3 will result in the destruction of an enemy chariot. If enough chariots survive, a second round of battle will ensue (and so on until it becomes unwise for one side to continue fighting). When two cities mutually attack each other, the battle will happen on the frontier; the winner will have the opportunity to continue their attack. 6. Revolt Since the colonies have been conquered by the cities, they might revolt if enough chariots are not left in the colony to intimidate the locals and put down rebellions. At the end of each turn all of the colonies are checked for rebellion. As seen in the chart below, rebellion is more likely to happen the greater the differential between the number of chariots in the colony and the sheep value of the colony. If a colony revolts, half of the chariots are destroyed and half of the chariots retreat to a friendly region. Example, if Gaza has six chariots in the Coastal Plain, then the power differential is 2 and the colony would revolt on a 2d6 roll of 2 or 3 (a 9% chance). If it did revolt, then three chariots would be destroyed and three would retreat to Gaza.
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