Battle Royal

This is one of the scarce Pepys boardgame editions.

It came in two versions: One with separate board and small components box and one with a large box, containing board and components.

Game consists of 54 playing pawns in 4 colours (small wooden cylinders), 3 sets of 4 movement cards (depicting one to four knights plus a Zero-knight card, and a large game board depicting a fictious medieval countryside.

Aim is to capture the opponents capital, starting in your own at the opposite end of the board.

At first you have to enter all your pawns onto the board square by square and then move the existing chain of knights towards the other capital. This is done with the randomly chosen movement cards. The number depicted is the allowance to move as many knights (pawns) from the end of your chain to the front of it. Obstacles hinder a smooth movement, and you can capture opponents knights or even cut his knights-chain off ! For all these actions you have to show the right movement card, some actions require 4 knights.

For the time edited (around 1950) a very good strategy game with much room for decision making what to do best with the random movement card. The beautifully designed gameboard adds to the atmosphere...