Talons

A Rico original game of deep dark strategy.

Pack hunter tactics, leapfrogging, imprisonments, assassinations, and asset management all wrapped into a destination maze race.

SET UP

A table and 2 chairs.
An 11x11 TAFL square grid board
A set of 42 double sized sticks. 21 for each Player.
6 Pawns, of 2 different colors.
Each Player’s pawn starts with 7, and only 7 sticks max in their inventory to play.
The board is preset with each player’s 3 Pawns, 1 in the center back row , and 2 Pawns next to the designated corners of the respective Player’s side.
The Player to move first is randomly selected.

To be the first Player to reach one of their pawns to the opposing Player’s back line.

On your turn, IF each of your pawn can move, you can either move a Pawn, OR place a stick barrier. Your game starts with 3 Pawn choices available to you.
With 3 waves in your attack, you can use all 3 movements on one pawn, place 3 sticks, or any combination.
A pawn that is imprisoned from reaching the back line can still play, by placing a stick. Remember the condition is IF it can move.
A pawn that is completely captured in isolation (surrounded an all four adjacent sides), is not able to move, and therefore forfeits its remaining sticks, its placement on the board, its turn to play on this, and all subsequent turns.
Pawns can move one space in any adjacent direction, (not diagonally).
Stick placements must be placed to fill 2 sides of 2 cells, not stretched to span 3 cells.
Sticks can be placed anywhere on the open board, except the outside boarders, so long as there is at least one open path for at least one of the opposing Pawns to reach its destination.
A Pawn can jump over another Pawn if they are adjacent to each other, and a Pawn can jump adjacently to an open side if there is a wall directly behind the Pawn that is being jumped.
At the end of your turn, you may select to redistribute some sticks from one pawns inventory to another’s. But be careful, in your distributions- a pawn without any sticks left, can only move.

Talons is a Rico original game created in 2023.
Instead of forfeiture, a variation could allow for a captured pawn’s sticks to be redistributed to the other pawns’ inventory, for a max of 7 in each pawns queue.
This game can be played for points, and making use of the TAFL boards designated corners and center spaces. At the end of a round, whomever wins, earns 5 points. Each remaining pawn is worth 1 point each, and a pawn left in a corner or center space is worth an extra point each, which can make final positioning a factor. Several rounds could be played for a cumulative high score of X to win the game.
There are many variations on different sized boards, number of pawns, and number of walls available.
Be willing to ask, ‘What if..?’ and make up your own variation.
such as, What if.. Talons could be played by 4 players?
Check out Quoridor, Quoridor Mini, or Gigamic Quoridor for some original variations.

Its origins come from Quoridor, an old school game by Mirko Marchesi, that won the 1998 Games Magazine Game of the Year, and 1997 Mensa Select Winner awards.
I simply asked , ‘What if..?” and came up with a variation involving multiple pawns, a larger board, and team work dynamics.

This game is a ‘self proclaimed’ masterpiece in its versatility of options that resides on the Abstract Avalanche, the Predators Tract, and The Sticks and Stones Series shelves on my vast library.
This abstract game is surprisingly deep for its simple rules, and is a great one to teach strategy, especially pack hunter tactics.
With the double sized sticks, completely isolating an enemy pawn can be tricky, but might very well be worth the stick placements to reduce you opponents attack waves on the next and future turns.
Moving straight across the board, a Pawn could win in 9 moves, (with a jump over another Pawn), however, those damn wall obstacle placements have a way of interfering.
The double sized Wall/Stick placements cannot overlap each other, which creates some maze creation and capturing limitations.
Keep inventory of your remaining sticks, it is easy to run out.
Be thoughtful of your wall placements, as Karma has a way of affecting your route too.
All you need is a TALF board , and some sticks and stones to play.