Game Ludus Latrunculorum – Soldier Game

The Soldier’s Game is an ancient board game first mentioned by Varro (116-27 BC), a Roman writer. It became popular among the Roman legions, hence the name (Soldier’s Game), and was spread by soldiers to all parts of the Empire. Take, for example, the game board found on Hadrian’s Wall in Northern Britain. The boards of Soldier’s Game often were drawn on the ground and played with pebbles or small stones. It was a military strategy game, where the board represented a battlefield and the pieces soldiers. The game’s specific rules were not uniform but generally involved the tactical movement of the pieces and capturing the opponent’s pieces. The popularity of this game is illustrative of the importance of strategy games in Roman culture.

• Goal: Eliminate as many of your opponent’s pieces as possible.
• No. of participants: 2 players
• No. of pieces: 34 -17 for each player; each of the players has a special piece, named Dux.

Rules:

1st Stage

• Each player places two pieces on the board each turn, distributing them among empty cells, with each one corresponding to one cell;
• After all 32 pieces are placed (16 per player), the Dux will be placed in a point of their choice. During this phase, the pieces won’t move or be eliminated.

2st Stage

• On its turn, each player moves a piece in any direction, one space at a time, except diagonally, to try to capture their opponent’s pieces and the Dux. To do so, it must perform” custódia”, which consists of blocking a piece in a vertical or horizontal line between two of its pieces. However, a piece can move into the space between two opponent pieces without being captured.
• Captured pieces are removed from the game;
• The player who captured the piece can play again;
• Dux moves just like the other pieces but can jump over an opponent’s piece to a space, blocking and capturing it. A single jump is not enough to eliminate the other piece, as it must be blocked.

Winner: The player who eliminates the highest number of opponent’s pieces. The game ends when no further moves are possible; in this case, whoever has the most checkers left wins.

Symbology of the pieces

Triumphal Crown – the triumphal or laurel crown is a symbol of victory and triumph, made with two branches of laurel leaves. The custom seems to come from Ancient Greece, where triumphal crowns were given to Olympic winners but also to the most celebrated poets. In Rome, during both the Republic and the Empire, victorious commanding generals and even Emperors entered the Eternal City in triumphal parades along the Via Sacra and toward the temple of Jupiter Capitolineus, wearing their showy crowns. During the parade, a slave would lift the wreath above the head of the honouree and repeat the expression memento mori, thus reminding him that glory is fleeting and fading. Sometimes, to the two laurel wreaths was added a third, in gold, sent by the provinces and whenever the triumph was recognized by decree of the Senate. When a commander won a campaign he would also inform the Senate by sending a scroll wrapped in gold leaf.

The origins of this tradition lie in Greek mythology, specifically in the myth of Daphne. According to this myth, Apollo, god of the Sun, music, poetry, male beauty, and other attributes, would have fallen in love with the beautiful nymph Daphne who, nevertheless, did not have the same feelings for Apollo. Thus, to escape his seduction attempts, Daphne decided to flee to the forest hills where she met her father, the river god Peneus, who decided to turn her into a laurel tree. Despite this setback, Apollo’s passion did not wane, and made the laurel his tree, dedicating songs and poems to it. The Pythoness of Delphi, famous for her prophecies inspired by Apollo, chewed laurel leaves before her divinations and is often presented with laurel branches in one hand.

Glaive – from the Latin gladius, was a term commonly used to designate any kind of sword. Although it was mainly used for stockpiling or piercing, it also had a high cutting potential and could thus be considered a complete sword.

Glades used by the Roman legions resulted from previous Hispanic models that soldiers in the service of Rome had known in the Iberian Peninsula during the Punic Wars, where mercenaries hired by Carthage used them.

Over time it was reduced in size, becoming more common the so-called ‘model of Pompeii’ since in that city the first examples have been identified, recovered in the debris and ashes of the tragic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A. D.

The size reduction was probably to increase their efficiency in tighter hand-to-hand combat, an aspect to which the shield would also contribute; the small dimensions would allow them to more easily attack and bypass the opponent’s armor, being also very effective against less effective armor, which was the norm at the time.

The largest glads were 75 to 85 cm long, and the shortest was no more than 60-65 cm. The heaviest ones would be about one kilogram, although they were generally a little lighter, between 800 and 900 grams.

Shield – the shield (scutum) was used by the Roman infantry from the established date for the foundation of the Republic (753 BC) until the fall of the so-called Western Roman Empire (476 AD). It would be a perfect match for the Pompeii model Gladius, one of the other pieces in this first edition of board games from Quinta da Raza; together, they would have played a fundamental role in the numerous victories of the Roman legions.

The first shields were oval and small, made of wood and leather. Rome’s military successes, still during the time of the Republic, are believed to have led, around the 3rd century BC , to the development of other shapes, such as the rectangular one, similar to the one in the game. This model assumed a more elaborate production, comprising three layers of wood arranged in a convex shape, covered with a strip of leather and calfskin; at the edges, a metal rim provided greater protection against enemy swords and darts. Its approximate dimensions would be 1.20 meters in length by 0.80 meters in width, weighing between 7 to 8 kilograms.

In addition to their functional side, the shields also held strong symbolic significance. The front part was often decorated with signs and/or marks alluding to the unit to which the soldier belonged. It also contained symbols of Roman imperial power, fantastic and mythological images, or battle scenes that could impress and intimidate adversaries.

Among the most famous military maneuvers where shields were used was the famous ‘tortoise’ formation (popularized in literature and cinema), which consisted of a defensive organization in which a group of soldiers, all together, covered themselves with their shields, thus defending themselves from enemy arrows and projectiles.