Latrunculi

[@cilo902]

Very interesting. Thanks for the explanation of the game and also for the history lesson!

[@noahclark6620]

his life seems so peaceful

[@jeremiahcastro9700]

Latrunculi and Hnftafl seem to teach warfare better than our modern day Chess...and I would even say better than Shatranj. I love that you can move all the pieces in all four cardinal directions. This game is the closest to actual warfare that I've seen. From Shatranj and it's descendants they seem to teach more of each soldier acting independently as opposed to teaching the player to have the army act as one whole.

[@jeremiahcastro9700]

I would like to add a thought on modern Chess...it seems that once Shatranj reaches Europe the Chess pieces changed to reflect the change in the political climate and government. By this I mean that less importance was placed on the military and more importance on politics and religion...it's almost as if the army was used more as well...a screen while the real killing and grabs for power happened behind the scenes in the seats of government where political rivals assassinated one another...

[@clonetrooper71]

I largely agree with you! The free movement of every piece in Hnefatafl and Latrunculi makes for a much more dynamic game, so much so that you can move your whole army around the board and press the attack from an entirely new direction (which I've done in Hnefatafl). Shatranj is a good game, too. I think it is in many ways better than modern chess. I would say this for shogi, xiangqi, and makruk in addition to shatranj: the fewer far-reaching pieces there are, the more realistic the game is, from a combat perspective. While there is some realism to modern chess, in the sense that there are indeed different combat units in battles with different capabilities, the general truth is that the whole formation of troops should partake in the fighting, rather than having just the modern bishop and queen delivering mate, or having the queen infiltrate an opponent's flank and single-handedly tear it up; that is very annoying. Granted, it only happens if you're new to the game and/or don't pay attention, but it still shouldn't be able to happen at all, in my opinion.

[@tonymaurice4157]

@@jeremiahcastro9700 the game is unplayable and prone to draws

[@mattjazzml]

​@@jeremiahcastro9700 Some excellent comments and observations in this thread (except the last😅) These should be made into a blog post. Thankyou for taking the time to share this.

[@mattjazzml]

​@@clonetrooper71Wonderfully put. Totally agree.

[@Frankthegb]

The Latin pronunciation would actually be "Lah-troon-coo-lee"