An Elegant Game

I have in my catalogue of unfinished projects, a game. Actually I have several, but I am going to be writing about one in particular right now:

Osbolique

This game, in concept, was once played by the ancient Elvorae as an exercise in exploring the beauty of creative logic in others, as well as one's self.

It is played on grid composed of diamonds arranged in radial patterns of six, intermeshed to form a conceptually infinite plane. the tiles are colored in three shades so that no 2 tiles of the same color are in contact on any face.

There are 4 pieces:

1. The Rote. also known as a Mote, its movement is 'rotational' around the vertices on the short axis of the diamond... this allows for any Mote to influence 4 tiles at any given time. Motes have a value of 1 and require 2 influence to place in regular play. Usually represented by a stone with a dot on it.
2. The Rev, moves in 'revolutions' around the vertices on the long axis of the diamond it occupies, allowing it to influence 10 tiles. Revs have a value of 2 and require 4 influences to place or promote. Usually represented by a stone with a circle on it.
3. The Orb, moves in 'orbits'. These are the two like colored circles of tiles that intersect in the tile the piece occupies, allowing it to influence 10 tiles at any given time. Orbs have a value of 4 and require 8 influences to place or promote. Usually represented by a stone with a figure 8 on it.
4. The Ray, moves in the 'line' formed on the diagonal along the long axis of the tile. Rays have a value of 8 and require 16 influences to place or promote. Usually represented by a stone with a line on it.

Pieces can move within their influence, or can be used to aid in the promotion or placement of pieces in their influence.

Pieces can be completely blocked by opposing pieces, or partially blocked by allied pieces. A complete block terminates all influence at and beyond the blocking piece. Partial blocking only prevents movement to the blocked tile, but allows influence to and beyond the tile occupied by the allied piece.

Pieces can be captured via 'isolation'. A piece that is isolated is blocked so that it has no movement options, even if it still has influence. A piece (or group of pieces) that is so isolated is then removed from play.

Every turn can be played as a placement, a promotion, or a move.

Placements or promotions are made in the start phase (usually lasting 4-10 turns) at base value. In the remaining turns, regular promotion and placement requirements apply.

Placement in regular play consists of applying 1 influence to a space that has other influence applied, and this 'placing' a piece that has at least the minimum influence requirements met.

Promotion is similar to Placement, except the influence is applied to a piece on a tile that has contributing influence exerted on it, thus allowing it to be promoted to a higher state.

A move is as the name implies, moving a piece to an unblocked location that it influences.

The theoretical goal is to control space. I say theoretical because the ancients (and those who play as they did) played on infinite fields and would, when bored with the current construct, liberate a Ray and send it far afield, where they would create new complexities. Victory in these games, just as in life, was transient, and more a moment of tally taking before another foray.

In 'human' games, play is on finite fields of varied sizes, depending on the desired rank of complexity.