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Ludus Latrunculorum | Ancient Roman Game | rules | history — Transcript

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0:00the ancient Romans loved games of All
0:02Sorts including board games one of their
0:04favorites was a two-player strategy game
0:06called ludus latrunculorum but for all
0:09their passion for this game it appears
0:11they never wrote down the rules none
0:13have been discovered at least but that
0:15hasn't stopped Scholars from trying to
0:16reconstruct rules from the few written
0:18accounts that we do have the different
0:20rules of latrunculorum and house
0:22Scholars can get pretty heated when
0:24defending their version this time on the
0:27gaming bench
0:32[Music]
0:35to play you need a lat truncular on
0:37board these boards are typically 7x 8
0:398x8 or 8x2 squares my board is 8x8
0:43depending on the rules you're using each
0:45player will have 17 to 24 pieces of
0:48black or white Plus in some rule sets a
0:50single different piece per side called a
0:53dukes I made this marble board in pieces
0:56if you want to see how you can make your
0:57own latrunculorum game there's a link in
1:00the description of my build video
1:01there's also a link to a PDF download
1:03for a free game
1:06board there is no definitive rule set
1:09that has been found Scholars have
1:10devised dozens of possibilities I'll
1:13cover a couple of my favorites
1:15increasing in
1:16complexity the first rule set we'll talk
1:18about was developed by game historian RC
1:21Bell there are two phases in his version
1:24placement and movement pick a player to
1:27go first that player places two pieces
1:29on any open squares on the board players
1:32then take turns placing two pieces at a
1:34time until all pieces are on the board
1:36no captures can be made during the
1:38placement phase once all the regular
1:40pieces have been placed players then
1:42each Place their Dukes again in any open
1:45Square next is movement players can move
1:48any piece one space horizontally or
1:51vertically only there are no diagonal
1:53moves captures are made by trapping your
1:55opponent's piece between two of your own
1:57again vertically or horizontally only
1:59not diagonally this is called a
2:01custodial capture captured pieces are
2:04removed from the board if the movement
2:06of a piece traps two or more of your
2:08opponent's pieces all affected pieces
2:10are removed the Duke's piece is captured
2:13like any other normal piece a piece that
2:16makes a capture is granted an immediate
2:18second movement which doesn't have to be
2:20another capture the Duke's pieces move
2:22slightly differently they move one space
2:24at a time just like all the other pieces
2:26but they can also jump over an adjacent
2:29piece like in Checkers or drafts but
2:31unlike Checkers the jump piece isn't
2:33captured but if the Dukes jumps into a
2:36position that Sandwiches an enemy piece
2:39then that piece is captured a capture
2:41must be initiated by the attacking
2:43player that is to say you can move your
2:45piece between two opposing pieces
2:47without consequence Bell indicates that
2:49the victory condition is capturing all
2:51of your opponent's pieces but since the
2:53game uses custodial capture once your
2:55opponent is reduced to a single piece
2:57the game is effectively over B also
3:00suggests that if in the end game 30
3:02moves are made without a capture the
3:04game should end right there and the
3:06player with the most remaining pieces on
3:08the board declared the winner this
3:09second rule set was developed in 2001 by
3:12rri shadler an archaeologist and the
3:15current director of The Swiss Museum of
3:17games each player starts with an equal
3:20agreed upon number of pieces usually 16
3:22but no more than 24 shaders rules do not
3:25use the Dukes pieces start by
3:28alternating a single placement until all
3:30pieces are on the board then movement
3:33players can move a piece one space
3:34orthogonally that is horizontally or
3:37vertically but not diagonally captures
3:39are made like in checkers or drafts by
3:41jumping over a piece to the empty space
3:43beyond modle jumps are permitted in a
3:45single move players can also trap an
3:48opponent's piece by positioning between
3:50two of their own much like a custodial
3:52capture in Bell's rules however a piece
3:55so trapped isn't immediately removed
3:57from the board the captured piece is
3:59trapped and cannot be moved but if any
4:02of the trapping pieces are themselves
4:04removed from the board or trapped
4:06themselves then the formerly trapped
4:08piece can now move as normal however if
4:11the piece remains trapped when the turn
4:13returns to the trapping player the piece
4:15is removed from the game removing a
4:17piece is that player's full turn now
4:20that all sounds very confusing but it
4:22just means that if you're trapped and
4:24can't counter on your turn your piece
4:26will be removed from the board on your
4:28opponent's turn note that that there are
4:30no self-harming moves that is moving
4:32between two of your opponent's pieces
4:33does not trap your piece likewise pieces
4:36situated between two enemy pieces in the
4:38placement phase aren't trapped it's
4:40suggested that you use pieces that have
4:42a different color on the opposite side
4:44so you can turn the piece over to
4:46acknowledge that it's trapped this is a
4:48great idea because otherwise it becomes
4:50really challenging to remember the
4:51different states of different pieces a
4:53player reduced to one piece loses the
4:55game the final set of rules we'll talk
4:58about were developed by water slav
5:00Kowalski a Polish scientist and engineer
5:03uh he created this interpretation of the
5:05rules in
5:062006 his rules were developed primarily
5:09around an artifact found with the
5:11so-called Druid of Colchester in 1996
5:14near the village of stanway on the
5:16Eastern side of England this board was 8
5:18by 12 and was discovered complete with
5:2112 identical pieces for each side plus
5:23the duk's pieces now there's some
5:25disagreement if this is truly a
5:27latrunculi board shadler for example Le
5:29believes it to be a relative of a Celtic
5:32game called wiid boyth regardless I
5:35think Kowalski's rules make for the most
5:37interesting game unlike the previous two
5:40versions this game is played with all
5:42the pieces starting on the board like in
5:44chess the duk's pieces start in the
5:47second rank just right of the center
5:49line each piece moves like the rook in
5:52modern day chess that is they can travel
5:54any uninterrupted distance along A Rang
5:56or file enemy pieces are removed via
5:59custodial capture like the other rule
6:01sets there are no self- capturing moves
6:04you can also make a capture by flanking
6:06a piece in the corner the duk's pieces
6:09cannot be captured but they can be
6:11trapped if flanked on all four sides
6:14even if some of the pieces are their own
6:15men the player whose Dukes is trapped
6:18immediately loses the game Kowalski
6:21indicates that this is the only way to
6:22win but it makes sense to me that if you
6:25also remove all of your opponent's
6:27pieces that you would also win
6:29incidentally these vastly different
6:30takes on the rules illustrates one of
6:32the greatest challenges with
6:34reconstructing ancient games the rules
6:36writer is free to interpret different
6:38text in any way they can rationalize in
6:40their own mind and of course our modern
6:43day biases on how games can and should
6:45be played also factor in bottom line
6:48anyone telling you that they know how
6:49the Romans really played the game is
6:51fooling themselves
7:02we don't really know a lot about Ludas V
7:04trulum we have several extent boards and
7:07pieces that give us an idea of the form
7:09of the game there are several poetic
7:11depictions of gameplay that give us a
7:13sense of the rules and there are a few
7:15other odds and ends that help us make
7:16educated guesses about how it was played
7:19but to be clear these are guesses
7:21starting with the name ludus translates
7:24to game which is clear enough but
7:26latrunculorum is translated in several
7:29different way ways including soldiers
7:31mercenaries Bandits and other names this
7:34is apparently the diminutive form of the
7:36word though so it's usually translated
7:38as the game of little soldiers or the
7:40like I prefer to use latrunculi because
7:43ludus latrunculorum is a mouthful
7:47there's little concrete evidence
7:48surrounding the history of latrunculi
7:50some scholars believe it originated in
7:52Northern Africa specifically Egypt but
7:55there's debate if the Egyptians ever
7:56really knew the game when researching
7:58the game I came across the same
8:00reference again and again for the first
8:02written mention of latrunculi Roman
8:05author Marcus terentius Vero in his work
8:08on the Latin language every reference
8:11said the same thing that Vero just
8:13mentions the game in passing but I
8:15wanted to know exactly what he wrote so
8:18it took some digging but I found an
8:19English translation of vero's work this
8:22work is an exhaustingly detailed study
8:25of Latin as a language in the relevant
8:28passage ver described how suffixes can
8:30be added to words to show case number
8:33and gender and how to arrange them in a
8:35chart to make it easier to understand he
8:38writes to this four-fold spring two sets
8:41of lines are drawn up the one's
8:43crosswise and the other's vertical as is
8:45the regular Arrangement on the board in
8:47which they play with movable pieces now
8:50that's not a very exciting description
8:53and it's a common obstacle I face when
8:55doing deep dives into ancient games I
8:57don't read the language Latin in this
8:59this case so I have to rely on English
9:01translations from other authors and
9:03those translations can vary wildly I
9:07usually also run the original language
9:09through Google translate which honestly
9:11is hit and miss at best using the above
9:14example the relevant portion in Latin is
9:18in tabula solent in kronus ludent Google
9:22Translates this as as is usually the
9:25table on which they play chess since
9:28latrunculi predates the invention of
9:30Chess by at least 4,000 years this
9:32translation isn't especially helpful
9:35another example of translation issues is
9:37how pieces are described many of the
9:39accounts use different words for the
9:41pieces in the same work such as
9:43latrunculi and latronis this has led
9:46some Scholars to think that the author
9:48is describing pieces that have different
9:50moves for example perhaps the latrunculi
9:53or simple ponds that it can only move
9:54one space at a time while the latron are
9:57officers who can move an unlimited
9:59number of spaces or perhaps diagonally
10:02other academics take this as poetic
10:04license meaning the original author is
10:06changing up the words they use simply to
10:08avoid writing latrunculi over and over
10:12one of the most cited written accounts
10:14is Lis ponis or impraise of piso written
10:18by an unknown author in the first
10:20century it's a paner that is a praise
10:23poem directed to an unknown member of
10:25the piso family the poem sings the
10:28virtues of the subject including his
10:30outstanding abilities at rhetoric his
10:32prowess at sports His Kind nature and
10:35most relevant to us his skill at
10:37latrunculi the author writes when you
10:40are weary with the weight of studies or
10:42perhaps you are pleased not to be
10:44inactive but to start games of skill
10:46cunningly the pieces are disposed on the
10:49open board and battles are fought with
10:51soldiery of glass so that now white
10:54blocks black now Black Blocks white but
10:57every foe yields to the so marshaled by
11:00the what peace ever gave way what peace
11:03on the brink of death dealt not death to
11:06his enemy thousandfold are thy Battle
11:09Tactics one man is fleeing from an
11:11attack himself overpowers him another
11:14who has been standing on the lookout
11:16comes up from a distant Corner another
11:19stoutly rushes into the melee and cheats
11:21his foe now creeping on his prey another
11:25courtz blockade on either flank and
11:27under faint of being blocked him himself
11:29blocks two men another's objective is
11:32more ambitious that he may quickly break
11:34through the mass fail lanks swoop into
11:37the lines and raising the enemy's
11:39Rampart do havoc in the walled
11:42stronghold meantime although the fight
11:45rages fiercely the Hostile ranks are
11:48split yet thou thyself Are Victorious
11:51with Ser lines unbroken or despoiled
11:53maybe of one or two men and both thy
11:56hands rattle with the prison throng
12:00wow that must have been a heck of a game
12:03since there's not a lot known of the
12:05history of the game I thought it would
12:07be interesting to look into how Scholars
12:09take things like this praise poem and
12:11use it to interpret the rules for a game
12:14so let's break it down if perhaps you
12:16are pleased not to be inactive but to
12:18start games of
12:20skill this phrase tells us that
12:22latrunculi is a game of skill compared
12:24to a game of chance we know the Romans
12:26love throwing Dice and understood the
12:28differ between games of strategy and
12:31games of random chance cunningly the
12:33pieces are disposed on the open board
12:36and battles are fought with soldiery of
12:38glass this phrase may seem pretty
12:40straightforward but it's hotly disputed
12:42by a few in Academia many believe that
12:44the word disposed in this context means
12:47the game begins with an empty board with
12:49players taking turns placing their
12:51pieces in a preliminary phase before any
12:53movement however as seen in the rules
12:56section Kowalski has interpreted this to
12:58mean that all pieces begin on the board
13:00like in modern day chess the soldiery of
13:03glass is also important as it helps us
13:06understand what pieces go with what
13:07board often game boards are found
13:10separated from their pieces so this
13:11gives us some confidence that we're
13:13connecting the right board with the
13:15right pieces when we find them in a dig
13:17so that now white blocks black now Black
13:20Blocks white this tells us that the game
13:22is played with pieces of different
13:24colors unlike a game like Senate in
13:26which the pieces were differentiated by
13:28shape not color
13:29another who has been standing on the
13:31lookout comes up from a distant Corner
13:34this phrase implies that a piece can
13:36cover a considerable distance in a
13:37single move giving credence to the idea
13:40that pieces move like Rooks in modern
13:42chest that is along a row or file as
13:45long as they care to move until
13:46encountering another piece however in a
13:49passage in RS amatoria ID warns players
13:52of the danger of having a single piece
13:54out on its own separated from the rest
13:56of the army if each piece moves like a
13:59Rook such an isolated piece could easily
14:01return to the flock this has led some
14:04Scholars to believe that the pieces only
14:05move one space at a time another quartz
14:08blockade on either flank and under faint
14:11of being blocked himself blocks two men
14:14this phrase is interesting in that it
14:16speaks to a piece's ability to block a
14:18capturing move like you might expect
14:20with custodial capture however some
14:23translations I've read translate this as
14:25under faint of being trapped himself
14:28traps to men to my ear blocked and
14:31trapped mean very different things so
14:34again the translation can really guide
14:36the interpretation of the rules swoop
14:38into the lines and raising the enemy's
14:40Rampart do havoc in the walled
14:43stronghold there's another take on the
14:45rules that I didn't cover previously
14:47that supposes that another Victory
14:49condition is to create a wall or
14:50blockade the goal to be to control more
14:53of the board than your opponent um kind
14:56of like the game of Go I didn't cover
14:58this rule because to me it doesn't feel
15:00like it would be as exciting of a game
15:02and if you just build a big wall down
15:04the center of the board but again this
15:07is my modern day take on how a game
15:09should be played and I could be
15:10completely wrong and both thy hands
15:13rattle with the prison throng finally
15:15this tells us that pieces are removed
15:17when they are captured and don't return
15:19to the board I'm sure you can see now
15:22how an individual translation and the
15:24reader interpretation of that
15:25translation can have a huge impact when
15:28trying to decipher a rule set so after
15:31reading a bunch of academic papers on
15:33Ancient games I'm amused at the
15:35cattiness that many of these Scholars
15:37hold towards those with differing
15:39opinions for example Bell and shadler
15:42propose a primary placement phase before
15:45any movement Kowalski strongly refutes
15:48this writing One Source misinterprets
15:51the phrase pieces are disposed to mean
15:54that the stones were deliberately placed
15:56on these opening positions during a
15:58preliminary phase of the game this
16:00hypothetical first phase necessitates
16:02the invention of an unlikely rule that
16:05no captures could take place during this
16:07phase if chests were played This Way by
16:10alternately placing pieces on the board
16:12during an opening phase while
16:13disallowing captures it would be seen by
16:16players as a useless contrivance
16:19furthermore any realistic position that
16:21could be created by alternately placing
16:23pieces on the board could also be
16:25achieved by moving pieces into place
16:28from the starting position position
16:29making such a postulated opening phase
16:32as redundant as it is pointless David
16:35parlett in his history of board games
16:37also takes Kowalski's side writing more
16:40radically shadler believes with bell
16:43alone the game to have been one of
16:46placement and movement starting with an
16:47empty board rather than with pieces
16:50arranged on each player's two or three
16:52home rows Belle's reconstruction has
16:54pieces placed two at a time and
16:57prohibits captures during this placement
16:59phase this seems puzzlingly inconsistent
17:01with the Colchester find of
17:041996 Kowalski picks up this thread
17:07writing in any event the stanway game
17:10proves Beyond doubt that there was no
17:12opening phase without captures in
17:15latrunculi now the Colchester find and
17:17the stanway game both refer to that dig
17:19in England where is believed that a
17:21complete latrunculi set was uncovered so
17:24let's dig into that a little bit more
17:26first there's debate if it was a
17:27latrunculi bard at all there are several
17:30known games from that time period and
17:32region that were played on similar siiz
17:34checkered boards such as GID boyth in
17:37Welsh or Fidel in Old Irish admittedly
17:41this game is extremely similar to
17:43latrunculi if not a variation of the
17:45same now the game found at the stanway
17:48Dig is presented like this in shadler
17:50paper however if you look at photos of
17:52the find you can see that the pieces
17:54aren't as perfectly aligned as the
17:56previous illustration would have you
17:58believe looks more like this using aam's
18:01razor I have to wonder if the pieces
18:03were positioned like this purposefully
18:05or if perhaps the board was bumped while
18:07other items were being placed into the
18:08tomb or if an errant rat ran across the
18:12board at some point between when it was
18:14originally placed and when it was found
18:16centuries later finally I think it's a
18:18dangerous assumption that whoever put
18:20the game into the tomb understood how to
18:22play it so using myself as an example
18:25let's say I was arranging my best
18:27friend's burial tunb and as you do and
18:29she was a huge fan of Chess she wanted
18:31to be buried with her favorite set
18:34according to her wishes I put it in the
18:36Tomb and just to make it look a little
18:37more exciting I take the pieces out of
18:39the box and arrange them on the board
18:41but here's the thing I know how to play
18:44chess but it's far from my best game and
18:47for the life of me I can never remember
18:49if the queen goes on the right or the
18:51left of the king so there's a 50/50
18:54chance that I might arrange it
18:56incorrectly Also let's say I wanted to
18:58start a game for whatever reason I don't
19:00think I'd make an illegal move but I
19:03certainly wouldn't make the most
19:04strategic moves because I've never
19:06really studied the game bottom line
19:08future historians could find this game
19:11and assuming that the person who placed
19:13the game really knew what they were
19:14doing which I did not puzzle over the
19:17atypical setup and the odd starting
19:20moves now of course this is all
19:22speculation on my part but at the very
19:24least I think it makes a case that this
19:26particular find isn't Beyond doubt
19:29but however you look at it this sort of
19:31plight on the surface and fuming
19:33underneath makes these academic papers
19:36much more entertaining to me at
19:40least the strategy of play is going to
19:42differ significantly depending on which
19:44rule set you're using I'm not going to
19:46go into each but I will suggest that the
19:48bell and shadler rules aren't terribly
19:50different from seia so you can see my
19:53previous video on that game for some
19:54strategy
19:56suggestions and that's ludus arm if
19:59you've watched this far I hope you
20:00consider liking and subscribing to the
20:03handful of subscribers I do have sorry
20:05this video took so long to take out I
20:07got sick with the flu and then it turned
20:09in pneumonia and I was really pretty
20:11sick and it took longer to recover than
20:13I would have liked but here it is now as
20:16a reminder I put out two new videos on
20:18the first and fourth Thursday of every
20:21month again unless my body is trying to
20:23kill me one on rules history and
20:25strategy of an ancient game and another
20:27on how I made my own version
20:29thanks for watching and I'll see you
20:30next time on the gaming bench

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