This
section is designed for the novice player, advanced tactics articles will be
added later after sufficient study.
Cannon is not chess! It does have some of the same elements.
·Same number of pieces.
·Same object; Capture of the Town (King).
·Played on a grid.
So what makes it different?
In Chess you have 6 different types of pieces each having its own
behavior. Cannon has only two types of pieces the Town & the Soldier. The
behavior the pieces depends on the relation of one to the others, you must
keep your soldiers in formation to maximize the attack and defensive values.
Getting started.
The first thing you want to do is get a set but if you are not yet sure
if this is your type of game you may download aCannon Board in PDF formant, get yourself 30 pieces for
soldiers; 15 each in two colors and two markers for towns. Once you have this
you are going to need the rules down load this file Cannon rules and read it.
Now that you are ready to play here are a few things to consider.
Does it matter where I place my Town?
It sure does! More importantly it’s the red sides chance to
determine the nature of the conflict. The farther you place you Town to
either side the more the soldiers at the opposite side of the board will have
difficulty reaching your Town. The other consideration is do you want your
Town directly across from your enemiesTown or as
far away as possible. Both are a matter of play style; it pays to know which
your opponent is strongest at so you can force them to play the other.
What’s a good open?
In general your opening move should create a cannon formation that threatens
your opponent or avoids their attack. Be careful when playing black to not
over attack in the open, a clever player can take advantage of this. It is
usually better to attack once then maneuver into a better position for future
attacks that will also supply better defensive position.
What’s a good formation?
The most common mistake is to spread out and cover as much of the board
as possible with individual soldiers. Covering the board is good, having all
your soldiers out by themselves is asking for trouble. Whenever possible keep
them in groups of 3 or more so you can easily get into your cannon
formations. Try creating crossfire; having cannons covering you advancing
soldiers from two or more angles.
I have lost most of my
soldiers, should I resign the game?
Before you give up; I have seen players resign a game 5 moves from
winning because they were outnumbered two to one. Look for a spot to make a
run for it, if you are closer to the enemy Town than your opponent is to your
Town you may have a chance.
Does playing black/first give
you an advantage?
It will take extensive study to answer this properly. We are currently
amassing a database of game transcripts so this can be studied in depth and
we will post our findings after we calculate the win loss ration for a
sufficiently large group of games; 1000 or more.
