Designer: Andrew Plotkin
Publisher: (Web published), Looney Labs
Branches and Twigs and Thorns (or "Barsoomite Go") is an elegant little strategy game for two or four players that uses Icehouse pieces and a chessboard, and a collection of tokens (at least ten per player).
It is a turn-based game, unlike Icehouse or IceTowers; and there is no luck involved. Like Martian Go, Players seek to build chains of pieces of their own color and to force their opponents to branch of from opposing pieces of their opponent's colors, which results in a penalty determined by the sizes of the pieces involved.