Little Golem#1 · Hunter C
2 Apr 2016
CANNON.
Intro: Cannon is an abstract war game for two players. Cannon was invented in 2003 by David Whitcher. In the game of Cannon both players have 15 soldiers and 1 town. When alone, soldiers are restricted to moving just 1 space forward orthogonaly or diagonaly. However they can capture one space horizontaly or retreat two spaces backwards when adjacent to an enemy pieces. The most interesting part is when a line of three soldiers is formed. When this happens a cannon is created. Cannons can be formed verticaly, horizontaly or diagonaly and a cannon captures by firing 2 or 3 spaces away, it is essentialy a "non-move" capture. A cannon can also shift its position by moving its backmost soldier to the front of vice versa. This movement mechanic is a very intereting and original idea. The goal of the game is to be the first to capture the opponents town with a soldier or destroy it with cannon fire . For a more detailed looked at movement you can see the nestor games rule page. Nestor Rules
Gameplay: In the first moves of the game players decide where on the back rank (except the two corners) to place their town. A town is essentialy a stationary king. After the town is placed players take turns moving soldiers, moving or firing cannons. Unlike the openings in chess, the openings in cannon create tension and threaten pieces right off the bat. Once the opening fury winds down players plan their attacks and move key soldiers into postion. Some players prefer to attack with cannons and try to bombard their opponents while others send swarms of soldiers hoping to sneak through defenses. Some players use a mixture or cannons and soldiers. Because of these powerful attacks Defensive planning is also key. The end game usualy consists of players trying sneak a soldier behind enemy lines with a direct path to the opponents town. With the pieces in cannon being less mobile than pieces in chess a larger percentage of comebacks are made. I have won (and lost) several games where one side has more soldiers but overextened an attack and created a hole in the defense for the enemy to sneak through. If you are a memeber of Boardgamegeek geek you can see three example games on the Cannon forum. Also if you are a memeber of SuperDupergames.org there are 1000's of sample games in the archives. ( I am always up for a challege, my user ID is Clark94)
Pros: The replayability factor of cannon is greatly helped by the fact that at the beggining of each game players can chose where to place their town. Different town setups impact the strategies throughout the game.
There is also a very even winning percentage between the first player and second player with a very rare possibility of a draw. The draw percentage is so low because lone soldiers are forced to move in a forward manner, thus meaning that repeated positions are very rare. Only once in all of the games that I've played have I seen a draw.
Cannon is both tactical and strategical. Players are often faced with decisions on whether build defenses, or control the center/edges of the board. For a page of strategy boardgamegeek.com members can view a strategy guide Here
There are no memorized openings, each play is unique and clarity is very high.
Cannon has very favorable reviews on both Boardgamegeek and on Supdergames. It has often been desribed as an "elegant game that feels like a classic". Cannon is the second highest rated game on SDG.
Cons: With soldiers only moving one space at a time, turn based games can become slow. However this is the case with most games at LG.
A plan is required to play this game. New players can often get lost. Ask yourself if you are good at planning ahead. If not prepare to find yourself looking down the barrel of a cannon.
Permission from the creator: I know that I have no say whatsoever on the games to be added to LG, however I did ask the creator of the game if he would like to see this game added to the site and he said that he would give permission.
What do you think? Do you think that Cannon would be a good addition to the LG page. What are your opinions on this game? Have you heard of or have played cannon before?