San Guo Yan Yi Qi (2010)

This is a variant of Xiangqi based on the Three Kingdoms era, but is distinct from San Guo Qi.

The board is four sided. Three sides represents the three states of the Three Kingdoms era, i.e. Shu, Wu and Wei, and have the same complement of seeds as in Xiangqi. The fourth side contains only 5 seeds, i.e. Han Emperor, 3 Chariots and 1 Cannon.

The objective of the game is to defeat the other two states.

The Han Emperor cannot move. Players may enter into an alliance with any other player by moving one of his/her Horse onto specific spaces next to the Han Emperor seed. When that happens, the third player takes control of the Han Emperor's 3 Chariots and 1 Cannon seeds. Once allianced, the two players cannot capture each other's seeds.

The Han Emperor may also be disposed, by capturing with a Horse. When that happens, the other two players automatically enter into an alliance, and the third player takes control of the Han Emperor's 3 Chariots and 1 Cannon seeds.

The movements of the pieces remain largely the same as Xiangqi except for the following differences:
1) It is no longer possible to block the Horses or Elephants/Ministers.
2) On the first move of the game for each respective player, players cannot move the Cannon out of their own territory.
3) Witin their own territory, Soldiers can only move forward one step at a time. Upon reaching the border, Soldiers may also move 1 step sideways. Once beyond the border, Soldiers may move 1 step forward/backward/sideways, but cannot retreat behind the border.

When a player is checkmated and General seed is captured, his/her remaining seeds are taken over by the player who captured the General seed.