Gunjin Shogi
# Gunjin Shogi

Gunjin Shōgi or Japanese Military Chess (軍人将棋), also known as Marching Chess (行軍将棋, Kōgun Shōgi), is a two-player board game in which the objective is to capture the other player's flag, similar to Stratego (1942) and its antecedent L'Attaque (1908). Like Stratego, Gunjin Shōgi is a game of imperfect information, where the strength and identity of the opponent's pieces must be determined by deduction; however, there are notable differences. It is not known what influence these two games, developed contemporaneously, may have had on each other.

## History

Gunjin Shōgi has been sold and played since as early as 1895, although it is not known by whom and when it was $invented.^{:129–130}$ Dr. Christian Junghans reported this game in Monatshefte magazine in Germany in 1905. It seems, only after reading his article, Julie Berg took out a patent on a war game in London and Paris in 1907. Similarly, Hermance Edan took a patent for L'Attaque game in 1909 and sold them in $1910;^{:154–158}$ however, papers left by Mlle Edan's estate indicate she had invented the game in the 1880s. L'Attaque had a strong influence on Stratego, which was developed by Jacques Johan Mogendorff [de] in the 1940s.

There are at least three different versions of Gunjin Shōgi, distinguished by the number of pieces controlled by each player as well as the size of the board. The 23- and 31-piece versions are similar, influenced by the technology of World War I, and the 25-piece version is a more recent development, incorporating technologies developed during World War II. Because the surviving versions of Gunjin Shōgi show these more modern influences,

## Gameplay

8×6 board for 23-piece Gunjin Shōgi :

| | C | D |
| - | - | - |
| 8 | 総司令部 | 総司令部 |
| 7 | | |
| 6 | | |
| 5 | | |
| 4 | | |
| 3 | | |
| 2 | | |
| 1 | 総司令部 | 総司令部 |

The main differences between Gunjin Shogi and Stratego are:

* Gunjin Shogi needs a referee to resolve the battles of the pieces, which are kept face-down throughout the game.
* The Flag is placed only on the headquarters and a player who successfully occupied the headquarters of the opponent shall win the game.
* There are no Scout pieces. The Engineers and Spy have the same movement as the Scouts in Stratego.
* Only flag and senior officers can occupy the opponent's headquarters.
* Engineer (analog of miner) can remove mines and tanks.

Gunjin Shōgi variants and pieces :

| PiecesName | Strength | 23 | 25 | 31 | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Board size | Board size | 8×6 | 8×8 | 9×9 | Typically has "bridges" over a river, represented by the center of the board, with either straight, X, or Y shapes. Bridges are not counted as a separate row: the squares connected by the bridges are considered to be adjacent to each other. Military headquarters occupy the 2 or 3 squares in the center of the row closest to each player. |
| Individual pieces and quantities ||||||
| General 大将 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 1 | The flag officers can move one adjacent space forward, backward, left, or right. |
| Lieutenant General 中将 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 1 | The flag officers can move one adjacent space forward, backward, left, or right. |
| Major General 少将 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 2 | The flag officers can move one adjacent space forward, backward, left, or right. |
| Colonel 大佐 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 2 | The senior officers can move one adjacent space forward, backward, left, or right. |
| Lieutenant Colonel 中佐 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 2 | The senior officers can move one adjacent space forward, backward, left, or right. |
| Major 少佐 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 2 | The senior officers can move one adjacent space forward, backward, left, or right. |
| Captain 大尉 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | The junior officers can move one adjacent space forward, backward, left, or right. |
| Lieutenant 中尉 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | The junior officers can move one adjacent space forward, backward, left, or right. |
| 2nd Lieutenant 少尉 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | The junior officers can move one adjacent space forward, backward, left, or right. |
| Engineer 工兵 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | Engineers can move like a rook in chess, over any number of empty squares forward, backwards, left, or right, similar to the scout in L'Attaque and Stratego. They cannot jump over occupied squares. |
| Plane 飛行機 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 2 | The plane can move forward or backward any number of squares, or move left or right one square. It can jump over other pieces. Planes beat all pieces except flag officers (generals, lieutenant generals, and major generals). |
| Jet ジェット機 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | In the 25-piece game, the jet can move to any square except to squares occupied by friendly pieces or the opponent's marshal. |
| Tank タンク | 10 | 2 | 2 | 3 | Tanks follow the same movement rules as Cavalry for the 23- and 31-piece games; for the 25-piece game, they follow the same movement rules as Engineers. Tanks beat all pieces except generals, planes, engineers, and mines. |
| Cavalry 騎兵 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | Cavalry can move forward two squares in a single turn, or use regular movement rules (one adjacent square). These pieces cannot jump other pieces when moving forward two squares. Cavalry only beat spies and engineers. |
| Artillery 砲兵 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Artillery follows the same movement rules as the Engineers. |
| Spy スパイ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | The spy can only beat the general. For the 25-piece game, the spy follows the same movement rules as the engineers; for the other games, the spy follows the same one-square movement rules as the general and field officers. |
| Mine 地雷 | — | 2 | 2 | 3 | Mines are a single-use item; they are removed after being attacked, along with the attacking piece unless attacked by an engineer. Mines may not be placed at the entrances or exits to bridges. In the 8×6 example board shown, mines cannot be placed at B5, E5, B4, or E4. |
| Missile ミサイル | — | 0 | 2 | 0 | Movement is similar to the jet, unrestricted except to squares occupied by friendly pieces or the opponent's marshal. By itself, the missile removes all pieces in the four adjacent squares (forwards, backwards, left, and right) from where it fell, unless one of those squares is occupied by an opponent's missile, in which case only the two missiles are removed. |
| Atomic bomb 原爆 | — | 0 | 1 | 0 | Immobile unless adjacent to a missile, in which case the pieces can be moved together. When the missile enters the opponent's camp, all pieces in the eight adjacent squares (forwards, backwards, left, right, and diagonally) from the bomb's square are removed, unless one of those squares is occupied by an opponent's missile, in which case only the two missiles and the atomic bomb are removed. |
| Flag 軍旗 | varies | 1 | 0 | 1 | The flag's strength is determined by the piece behind it. |
| Marshal 元帥 | — | 0 | 1 | 0 | The marshal is immobile and takes the place of the flag for the 25-piece game. Vulnerable to attack only by a flag or senior officer, and only when there are no adjacent friendly pieces. |
