Rabel Barons declare war
Rebel barons have challenged King John and taken half of England
They invite Prince Louis of France to invade, and promise to make him the new King of England.
The stakes are huge. Can a few children and their animal allies make a difference?
Woodchurch, Kent, Kingdom of England – September 1216
The Civil War – sparked when King John renounced the Magna Carta – put half of England in the hands of rebel Barons and Prince Louis of France.
England’s King John was a powerful but brutal and unjust tyrant. Sir Rogerus was pleased when the Barons defied him, and was now firmly entrenched in the rebel Barons’ camp. However, he despised their invitation to Prince Louis to invade England, and reckless promise to make the Prince king.
As King John’s army pressed on, Eustace the Monk – mercenary, diabolically ingenious pirate and sworn enemy of Sir Rogerus – arrived in Kent.
Eustace had once fought for King John and performed many of his dirty deeds. But he was now in the employ of Prince Louis (again) and was ferrying French soldiers across the English Channel to Kent.
How could Eustace and Sir Rogerus – who’d each vowed to kill the other – have wound up on the same side? Eustace was powerful and clever. Sir Rogerus feared for his family’s safety. The kids' family...centuries later
He had to act…
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Rithmomachia: The Battle of Numbers
This long-forgotten mathematical board board was hugely popular during much of the middle ages. It may hold answers to helping the children save their ancestors and find their way back. The game was also known as The Philosophers Game
How it's Played
No Ordinary Game
The Battle of Numbers was a fun and practical way to teach "Boethian number theory" - a philosophy underpinning Medieval England's entire belief system...a game where "one number plunders another." It champions the natural unity of number and proportion. It taught players the mathematical harmony of creation. Discovering the true power and meaning of this harmony makes a life-or-death difference. As in the game itself, the answers (keys to winning) are constantly changing.
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Game Basics
Two-player Rithmomachia is played on an 8" x 16" checkerboard using square, triangular and round pieces, each with a numerical value (a 4th "pyramid" piece is several of the other pieces stacked). The board has eight squares on the shorter side; 16 on the longer.
Playing requires an ability to apply simple math, while winning requires an understanding of arithmetic and number progressions. Methods of "capture" depend on the numbers on each piece. Black and white forces are NOT symmetrical (i.e. the numbers on the pieces are NOT the same), adding an element of unpredictability to the game. Since the piece numbers differ, strategies for each player are not the same.
Early Medieval-period pieces used Roman numerals (modern numbering hadn't yet been introduced), so the arithmetic required well-honed memorization skills. Pieces:
• Rounds move one square in any of the four diagonals.
• Triangles can move exactly two squares vertically or horizontally, but not diagonally.
• Squares can move exactly three squares vertically or horizontally, but not diagonally.
• Pyramids (multiple pieces stacked together) can move like a Round, a Triangle, or a Square, which makes them very valuable.
The White Pyramid is made of a "36" Square, a "25" Square, a "16" Triangle, a "9" Triangle, a "4" Round, and a "1" Round, which totals up to the Pyramid's value of 91. The Black Pyramid is made up of a "64" Square, a "49" Square, a "36" Triangle, a "25" Triangle, and a "16" Round, which adds up to the Pyramid's value of 190.
The irregular values make it hard for them to be captured by most attack methods (listed below), except for Siege.
"Killing" Enemy Pieces
There are a variety of ways to capture the enemy. Unlike chess, however, pieces do not land on another piece to capture it, but instead remain in their square and remove the other. Capture methods include:
• Meeting: If a piece can capture another piece with the same value by landing on it, the piece stays in its location and the opponent's piece is removed.
• Assault: If a piece with a smaller value, multiplied by the number of vacant spaces between it and another larger piece, is equal to the larger piece, the larger piece is captured.
• Ambuscade: If two pieces' sum is equal to an enemy piece that is placed between the two (i.e. the enemy piece is within a move of both attacking pieces), the enemy piece is captured and removed.
• Siege: If a piece is surrounded on all four sides, it is removed.
