Shuriken Duel

Goal: Strike the enemy's hidden flag, or fell all his shuriken. The flag is carried by a warrior who looks like the others but never throws. You see your own as a back banner.

Your shuriken are bronze with blue blades. The enemy's are dark red iron with red blades.

Your turn: Tap a warrior to throw. Or drag him to glide in a straight line, anywhere on the board, even into enemy ground: if he can hit something from where you let go, he throws at once. Hold a warrior to see his lines of fire and where he can glide.

Throws: Each filled blade hits the first piece in its direction. Your own pieces block, and a throw must hit at least one enemy. Throws fly over the gaps outside the diamond.

Stones stand in no man's land. A straight throw that meets a stone turns 45° on its slanted face and flies on. Stones never fall and stop gliding.

Dan grades (단): on the master ground you climb seven grades, from 1st dan (초단) to 7th dan (칠단). Three wins fill the meter and take you up a grade; a loss takes a point, and a loss with an empty meter takes you down one. Each grade's opponent plays better; from 6th dan he always strikes first, and at 7th dan you see no lines of fire.

Master ground (명인): your army is set up for you and you may swap any pieces or shuffle for a new setup; it has a captain, a volley that throws two spikes straight down its column and pins up to two enemies (they cannot move for their next two turns; then it reloads by itself in two of your turns), and one of them a bow whose arrow strikes the first enemy in line and can fly over one of your own pieces, or a stone to get there (in a shield it sticks and unmasks it, a second arrow breaks it); here the flag is a piece of its own. His army is the same as yours and you see his blades, but his flag and his two shields pass for one-blade shuriken; his X-shuriken, with the red dot, throws on the diagonals and is the prize. Fell it and you capture a star of your own: placing it uses a turn. Stones turn a straight blade 45° on their slanted face. A flag must be hit twice: the first hit only reveals it, the second wins.

The captain (대장): on the master ground each side has a captain, a one-blade warrior whose belt shows his dan. He may not start next to the flag. If the flag is struck while he stands beside it, he falls instead, and the flag lives and hides again. Once per duel.

A still duel (정적): if 8 turns pass in a row and no piece falls, both flags are revealed. A hit on a flag then wins, and a warrior may glide straight onto the enemy flag to take it. After 14 calm turns the larger army wins. A counter above the board shows the calm turns.

Bronze shields: Each side hides two shields. Before the duel you can tap or drag yours to any field of your ground; they must stand in different columns. They never throw. A throw that hits a shield breaks it and flies back to fell the thrower. The bronze dots under the counters show how many are left.