Blockades

A blockade occurs when one player’s group of Guards prevents another player’s pieces from moving past their tile.

A group consists of two or more Guards belonging to the same player on the same tile.

Blockades can stop a piece at any point during its movement, not just on the tile where the move would end.

Blockade rules apply on all regular tiles. Special tiles follow their own rules.

A single Guard does not create a blockade.

A group of two Guards blocks single pieces and moving groups of two Guards.

A group of three Guards blocks single pieces and moving groups of two or three Guards.

A group of four Guards blocks single pieces and moving groups of two or three Guards.

A moving group of four Guards cannot be blockaded.

Unlike captures, blockades can stop a moving group that is the same size as the blocking group.

Guards on Castles do not create blockades.

Opponent pieces cannot blockade your pieces on your own entering tile.

A Noble is blocked by any opponent group of two or more Guards.

A Noble is also blocked by its owner’s Guards, even when only one Guard is present.

Your own Guards do not block your Noble on Castles or inside your own Home path.

When an opponent blockade trims a piece’s movement, the moving player loses combat score for every movement step that could not be used. Journey subtracts 5 points per trimmed step, while Brawl subtracts 15 points per trimmed step.

Example: Your opponent has a group of three Guards on tile 11, and you have a group of two Guards on tile 7.

You assign a value of 7 to each Guard. If the path were clear, both Guards would move to tile 14.

Because a group of three blocks groups of two, your Guards are blockaded and stop on tile 10.

Each Guard moves only 3 tiles, leaving 4 trimmed movement steps per Guard and 8 trimmed steps in total.

The example therefore subtracts 40 combat score in Journey or 120 combat score in Brawl.

Only opponent blockades cause this penalty. If your own Guard stops your Noble, no combat score is lost.