Editor’s Note: Over the Christmas week the Meeple Guild will be offering up a game-a-day as a holiday treat. Enjoy!
YORKTON - It is always something of a personal thrill to stumble upon a truly historic board game.
Such was the case when bouncing around Board Game Geek some weeks ago and I came upon Conspirateurs.
The game hails from France, and it was noted on BGG it was “probably invented sometime before 1800, but after the French Revolution (1789) as it seems to be inspired by the rivalling factions of that time.”
I’m always fascinated when a game has managed to exist for more than 200-years, and the rules are still out there to allow it to be played.
So, with a printable board on BGG I was eager to give this one a try, to the point I had the board immediately laminated.
This one employed a huge board; a 17x17 grid.
There is a 5x9 area in the centre of the board where players take turns placing their 20 men.
Around the outer edge are 39 safe square. Be the first to get your 20 pieces into safe spots to win.
Like Halma, or more widely known Chinese Checkers - players hop over friendly or enemy pieces in any direction to get to their destinations. There are no captures.
As you might imagine the rules here are short, and the game can be taught in seconds, which might suggest an easy game – but it’s not. In fact, it can be rather ‘thinky’ as you want to make long chained jumps, but also must avoid leaving an ‘orphan’ piece isolated so it has to ‘limp’ to a safe space one move on a turn.
The game is surprisingly good, but it does last a bit beyond our modern attention span, largely because you have 40 pieces on a very large board. It would be better for today chopping some squares and pieces.
That said, as it exists Conspirateurs shows that long ago, with less games to pick from, and maybe more time to devote because of fewer hobby time sinks, games could happily consume more time.
This is a throwback to a different time that is worth exploring for its historical significance.
