1) When a red and a blue piece (yours and the computer’s, respectively) occupy adjoining squares either back to back, side to side, or face to face, they are in a position to attack or “strike”. NO diagonal strikes can be made.
2) A player may MOVE or STRIKE in his turn. He CANNOT do both. The “strike” ends the turn. After pieces have finished the “strike” move, the player who was struck has his turn to move or strike.
3) It is NOT required to “strike” when two opposing pieces are in position. A player may decide to strike whenever he desires.
4) Either player may strike (in his turn), not only the one who moved his piece into position.
5) To “strike” (or attack), the player whose turn it is moves his piece onto the opponent’s square. The ranks of both pieces are then revealed.
6) The piece with the lower rank is lost and removed from the board. The winning higher ranking piece is then moved immediately into the square FORMERLY OCCUPIED BY THE LOSING PIECE.
7) When equal ranks are struck, BOTH pieces are lost and removed from the board.
8) A Marshal (#1) removes a General (#2), a General removes a Colonel (#3), and so on down to the Spy, which is the lowest ranking piece.
9) The Spy, however, has the special privilege of being able to remove ONLY the Marshal, provided he strikes FIRST. That is, if the Spy “strikes” the Marshal in his turn, the Marshal is removed. However, if the Marshal strikes first, the Spy is removed. All other pieces remove the Spy regardless of who strikes first.
10) When any piece (except a Miner-#8) strikes a Bomb…<BANG!> that piece is lost and is removed from the board. The Bomb does NOT move into the empty square, but remains in its original position at all times. When a Miner strikes a Bomb, the Bomb is lost and the Miner moves into the unoccupied square.
11) A Bomb cannot strike, but rather must wait until a moveable piece strikes it.
12) The Flag, like the Bombs, can NEVER move.
Whenever a player “strikes” the opponent’s Flag, the game ends and he is the winner.