Trench

TRENCH abstractly yet poignantly depicts one of the most dramatic military conflicts of the 20th Century: World War I. It stresses the horror, sordidness, and absurdity of life in the trenches, where millions of men were confined for years, including No Man’s Land, the terrain between the two enemy trenches.

The board, full of geometric abstractionism, 100% in black and white (a humble homage to the typical Portuguese street pavement, Calçada), emphasizing the two horizontal lines suggestive of the Trenches, simulates a battlefield divided into two opposed and well-defined territories. The game pieces, in Cubist style, represent a classic military confrontation, with all the ranks: from the lowly Soldier, to the General atop the pyramid of power.

The algorithm of the game accurately describes the scenario of the "Great War". Its realistic mechanisms reflect the two main periods or phases into which this conventional war is commonly divided:

1. War of Movement: The most remarkable feature was the mobilization of the armies and the strategic movement the troops, determined to move forward progressively on the field during constant tactic maneuvers, following a systematic war logic.
2. War of Trenches: Reflective of a situation a balance of power, the trenches were effectively the stage of many battles during this conflict, some of which were decisive. The armies were forced to guarantee their positions while preparing to take new territory.

The tactics and strategies of TRENCH are imbued with tenets from the canonic masterpiece of Chinese Literature, The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

TRENCH commemorates the War through Art!

About Rules and Game Play:

In this abstract game, imagine that you command a WWI army comprising several ranks, and your pieces are your unit. Obeying very strict but simple mechanisms, every piece in the game has an allowed movement in terms of direction and distance it can move, depending on the rank of the piece, just as in Chess. The goal of the game is to defend your army, and at the same time attack and capture the most valuable pieces from the enemy. After a certain number of confrontations, the player with the highest score wins. You need to maintain a high level of control of the field for this to happen. As for the trenches, the entrenched pieces prevent frontal attacks, causing a high strategic strain on the enemy, who is forced to perform diversion maneuvers and search for other solutions to fight back. Seems easy? It's easier said than done. Its apparently minimalist structure, combined with its fundamental principle of area control, becomes surprisingly hard to master. This is a game that will surely be a challenge, and will not leave you indifferent.