COUNTERPOISE: a classic game of combat and diplomacy.

A look at Counterpoise in motion ...

First, the set up. The game map (world) has been chosen. A player gets the low roll of the die so chooses first. Already a key strategic moment: he picks a nation, his homeland, where he'll start the game with five battleships, three troop ships (which can carry five troops), and 35 troops (each troop represents a battalion). In picking a homeland, it should be a more-powerful nation (more cities) and one that's well situated strategically.

Once all the players are set up, the moves begin, in turn.

For player one, battle and troop ships move out, and war is declared on a neighboring country. A different player sets up the troops for this independent nation (based on its size, which is based on the number of cities in the country). Troops and ships can move three spaces. But if a battleship fires at a ship or port (to invade), that deducts from its moves: two shots, one move remaining. One shot, two moves remaining. When a troop ship takes a space on land occupied by an enemy troop, that enemy troop is removed from the map, and that freezes the front until the next player's move…

Tit for tat, a war of attrition begins.

Meanwhile, on the perimeter of the world map lies a timeline. The 'times ship' moves down the timeline after each full turn.

(continue)