Stacking games
The first thing everyone notices about EVL is the board, shown above. Unique in the world of abstracts, it consists of four rows of seven heptagons with three rows of six disconnected pentagons smooshed between them. And this is just the start of the wonderful things about this game by Kevin Kane of Nexus Games. The rules of EVL are given in AG22, and are recalled here briefly.
The board starts empty. The goal is to control ten of the pentagons on the board. How you gain control over the pentagons will be covered later, since the action occurs solely on the heptagons.
On each player's turn, they must choose to do one of the following two options: take a piece from their limited set of reserves and place it onto the board, or "unstack" a stack that they control. If the player no longer has pieces in reserve, they must unstack.
When placing a piece onto the board, the player may put it into any empty heptagon, or they may put it on top of one of their pieces. This is one way that "stacks" can be created. Stacks are, by definition, two or more pieces tall. Players control stacks that are capped by a piece of their colour. But, and this is extremely important, stacks can never be more than four pieces tall. No game action, neither placing nor unstacking, can ever make or leave behind a stack with five or more pieces. For this reason, four-stacks are "walls," and these are the primary way that the board is carved up into controlled territories.
To "unstack," a player takes any two, three, or four piece stack that they control and moves it. As the stack is moved, one piece from the bottom of the stack must be left behind in each heptagon that is passed through. The movement does not need to be in a straight line, but it must not double back on itself. For example, you may move a four piece stack one heptagon over without changing it, or you may move it three spaces over by leaving the bottom piece in the immediately adjacent heptagon, the next bottom piece in the next heptagon, and the final two pieces in the third. As you leave these pieces behind they cover whatever pieces were already in those heptagons. In this way, you may cover your opponent's pieces, creating or gaining control over new stacks along the way. As a reminder, you must leave pieces as you go, and you cannot ever create a stack higher than four pieces. Thus, depending on the board state, you will not be able to spread through "walls."
The board starts empty. The goal is to control ten of the pentagons on the board. How you gain control over the pentagons will be covered later, since the action occurs solely on the heptagons.
On each player's turn, they must choose to do one of the following two options: take a piece from their limited set of reserves and place it onto the board, or "unstack" a stack that they control. If the player no longer has pieces in reserve, they must unstack.
When placing a piece onto the board, the player may put it into any empty heptagon, or they may put it on top of one of their pieces. This is one way that "stacks" can be created. Stacks are, by definition, two or more pieces tall. Players control stacks that are capped by a piece of their colour. But, and this is extremely important, stacks can never be more than four pieces tall. No game action, neither placing nor unstacking, can ever make or leave behind a stack with five or more pieces. For this reason, four-stacks are "walls," and these are the primary way that the board is carved up into controlled territories.
To "unstack," a player takes any two, three, or four piece stack that they control and moves it. As the stack is moved, one piece from the bottom of the stack must be left behind in each heptagon that is passed through. The movement does not need to be in a straight line, but it must not double back on itself. For example, you may move a four piece stack one heptagon over without changing it, or you may move it three spaces over by leaving the bottom piece in the immediately adjacent heptagon, the next bottom piece in the next heptagon, and the final two pieces in the third. As you leave these pieces behind they cover whatever pieces were already in those heptagons. In this way, you may cover your opponent's pieces, creating or gaining control over new stacks along the way. As a reminder, you must leave pieces as you go, and you cannot ever create a stack higher than four pieces. Thus, depending on the board state, you will not be able to spread through "walls."
The last parts of the game are the pentagons. These are the territory of the game, and the goal. If you control ten of them at the end of your turn, you win the game. Pentagons are captured only through an unstack, and specifically, they are captured with custodial capture. During an unstack move, if any pieces of your colour are placed such that they form a pair with one of your pieces or a controlled stack in either of the two heptagons on the opposite side of a pentagon, then that pentagon switches to your colour. Pentagons stay your colour even if the pieces that originally scored them move.
And that's it. The only other points to make have to do with edge cases. The first is regarding what happens when one player cannot make a legal move (something that is very rarely seen and will be left to the official rules). Second, in an oversight, the rules make no mention of draws. Situations can occur where opponents have no good moves left and simply play waiting moves back and forth. In this situation, players should just agree on a draw.
Strategy
This game is new enough that there are no truly skilled players yet. What is written here is bound to be expanded upon or rethought and refuted. Still, the things herein are emergent, and it is worth noting them as you sit down for your first game.
Strategy
This game is new enough that there are no truly skilled players yet. What is written here is bound to be expanded upon or rethought and refuted. Still, the things herein are emergent, and it is worth noting them as you sit down for your first game.
- First, don't be fooled by the capture goal. EVL is a game about influence and territory. A tall stack is extremely powerful. Not only does it threaten to capture anything within four heptagons of it, but it also stands as an anchor for other spreads to score with, and as a wall to resist your opponent's stack's influence. In most games, the first four moves by each player are simply to build a four-piece stack.
- Building walls is so important that it is almost always incorrect to unstack them until your position is dominant. As a consequence, the art of "walking" a stack is a good skill to learn. For example, a four stack can be unstacked two heptagons to cover a lone piece and in so doing you will retain a four stack. Similarly, a four stack can cover a two stack three heptagons away, etc. Setting up these "landing positions" smartly is critical to eventually gaining the upper hand.
- Avoid vulnerable three-stacks. With smaller stacks, you can often position them so that if the opponent tries to capture them, you can capture them back—but not with three stacks. Once the opponent captures them, those stacks are now walls.
- Single pieces are not stacks, are very weak to capture, and do not project any influence. It's tempting to place a lot of singletons around the board with the hope that they will help you score as you unstack, but they do not meaningfully contribute to board dominance. If you place a single piece down, do so because you plan to build it into a stack.
- Do not overestimate the weakness of having an off-colour piece on the bottom of a stack. It can be a little annoying to keep in mind, but often it just means that you leave a single enemy piece somewhere as you unstack. Again, singletons are weak and it generally isn't a big issue.
- Corners are great places to build attacks from. Though they project the least influence into the centre of the board, they are very difficult for an opponent to capture. If your opponent doesn't have the time or pieces to trap them in the corner, they can be an effective way to get into their backline. ◾️
References
If you are interested in reading more about EVL, please check out the game's official rules, and the creator's blog and home page.
Also, the game is now available to play on BoardGameArena, and I hope to meet you there for a game!