I love 'Feudal,' and this video was a revelation to me as I had never heard of the 3M rules (which are so different!). Were these rules printed? Every 3M copy of the game that I have seen has rules identical to the Avalon Hill version. If you have a copy, could you please upload a PDF to Boardgamegeek? I'd so appreciate it!
A friend and I used to play against each other combining four boards from four sets of the same game in massive battles of light colored armies vs dark colored armies with over a hundred units to move each turn with some movement mods... still only one castle used and one royal color chosen for Prince, Duke, and King but the royal Duke and Prince could traverse rough terrain on their mounts and the one royal archer could shoot up to 4 spaces. Battles would literally last for days!
We've been playing Feudal like that for many years. 👍 I used to have some terrific battles with my step-dad that lasted days.... may he R.I.P. I had quite a few AH games, but Feudal is the only one that survived the years and many moves.
I wonder how Facts in Five plays now? If I'm not mistaken, that's a trivia game, and some of the questions might be a bit out of date now. Who won the world series in 1955? That sort of thing
My dad passed his copy to me. I've only ever gotten people to play it once about 20 years ago. I love it, but in an era of instant gratification and tik tok attention spans I can't find anyone to play anymore. I wish more board games would be converted to phones as in words with friends (scrabble). Then people could just get back to the game in their own time. No pressure, no time frame.
That's too bad! The good news is that Feudal has a great look to it that I think anyone with an interest in Chess would likely give it a go! Maybe you can look for opponents on boardgamegeek.com?
I used to own 4 sets as well. I had a 3M version, as well as a couple AH. Like cretin mentioned below, we would play a massive game, that usually took around 5 hours or less. We usually kept track of the highest number of losses per turn...which I think was around 14. I loved that game. I have been thinking of ways to resurrect this game with newer pieces and map, plus one small change to the squire. The cost seemed prohibitive, but I am getting closer to solving it. Thanks for the video
@@LegendaryTactics I am done! Not sure how I could show it to you. Basically, I have a vinyl 1 inch square map, I use 1 inch square colored flat blocks from Amazon to denote the terrain, and the pieces from Warlords of Europe as such. There is no squire however. Warlords has the rest of the types to assign as the pikeman, sergeant etc. I call it Feudaloid!
My parents had a collection of 3M games which they gave me. I have really gotten into them and started trying to find the others they didn't have - including Feudal, which I just got. Having looked it over, I am pretty sure it is the 3M version with the simpler rules. Indeed the rulebook you show in the video looks more like the 3M/'60s aesthetic. I think I confirmed this by searching for the Avalon Hill rules - and sure enough, the more futsy rules popped up. Don't get me wrong, I love this video and the channel - just something I noticed.
@@LegendaryTactics I can attest that, having played it all weekend with my kids, it is a total winner! (3M rules... though I'm not anti-Avalon Hill complexity. Currently studying the Magic Realm rules to unleash on my kids eventually 😀👍)
At 1:35 in the video, you'll see the four boards. So, top left, top right, bottom left and bottom right. In the game I own, the four boards are not connect to each other and can be turned and shuffled. In the game, the person setting up the board goes second. The person going first chooses the two boards to be their starting side. The divider is placed across the middle, and then both setup their boards. If the game allows for setup and you can choose your side, and you are using three armies vs three armies, then I recommend taking the upper left board at 1:35 and moving it so it is on your right side for setup. Now, look at the upper left board and, facing it, look to the upper right. You'll see a "S" shaped mountain range. Now, place your castle to the right in the open space. In order to access the castle from this position, one must move their piece along the back row, going left to right (if you're on that side of the board). What you want to have is three archers in this corner. One on the green of the castle, two in front of the single archer, and the whole back row is open. Using this setup, there is no way for anyone to move their pieces along the back row into those three spots at the end of the row, as the three archers kill those three every time someone moves along that row. the only way to beat this is to use a squire, entering that row, using their movement to take out one archer. ALmost impossible. By using this setup, you can use your entire army to attack - you don't need any other piece back there to defend. Just kill the opponent's squires and they can never get in.
I call shenanigans. My Avalon Hill edition came with the four quadrants of the board 'unfolding' identically for each game. This could best be seen by the FOUR single mountain squares at EACH corner of the board...with manufacturing bracing underneath that did NOT allow for the placement of any figures! (Verified by my exhaustive search of Google Images...) These manufacturer corner mountains are missing from the 1:35 image. Also...my memory served to show that upon setup there were a centrally located PAIR of DOUBLE rows allowing unimpeded movement both East-to-West and North-to-South in every opening setup. A key terrain feature slightly reminiscent of Stratego. These 'lanes' of advance/retreat are non existent in the 1:35 image. Further...my review of robust, red-blooded and God-fearing Feudal images shows your nefarious 'S' shaped mountain formation to be properly more centrally located in an Avalon Hill hard copy set up of Feudal. And NEVER along the edge of play as shown in 1:35. Just sayin'. But man it was (and is) a great game. Our major House Rule allowed the archer(s) to both move three spaces AND shoot up to three spaces each turn. They were Legolas before Tolkien was cool.
The bookshelf copy that I purchased way back when only has the instructions for Avalon Hill. It would be curious to know if the copies prior to or the copies after the one I have, had both instructions.
Don't know were you came across the 3M version, but, recall playing this against brother and friends when teens. 68 now, so, it has been a bit of time.
4 boards are laid by the player who goes second, player going first lays the divider and chooses sides, "Avalon Hill" move/rule scheme.....we added 2 Dice when I was about 15. The number you roll (2-12 ) is the maximum number of soldiers you may move/attack with during your turn. We did this to add an element of chance......Then years later, I played with another lifetime feudal player and their house rules stated horses could cross but had to stop to stop in the striped "marsh" (same as the freeze required on the green) and infantry could 'climb' on and off mountains by using the shorter of their two movement axis (archer and king not allowed on mountain) They did this to nullify the 'Mountain Fortress' placement of the castle.
Tabletop Simulator is an application that allows you to play online together - but it is a platform for any number of games, so rules enforcement has to be managed by the players. It isn't an app custom designed for Feudal - although I think it would be cool if they made one!
I liked this in concept but too many odd, arbitrary rules make it too arbitrary and abstract for me. I wish it had just been a kind of fairy chess. I prefer the simplicity of chess games.
I love 'Feudal,' and this video was a revelation to me as I had never heard of the 3M rules (which are so different!). Were these rules printed? Every 3M copy of the game that I have seen has rules identical to the Avalon Hill version. If you have a copy, could you please upload a PDF to Boardgamegeek? I'd so appreciate it!
A friend and I used to play against each other combining four boards from four sets of the same game in massive battles of light colored armies vs dark colored armies with over a hundred units to move each turn with some movement mods... still only one castle used and one royal color chosen for Prince, Duke, and King but the royal Duke and Prince could traverse rough terrain on their mounts and the one royal archer could shoot up to 4 spaces. Battles would literally last for days!
Wow! That is epic!
My brother and I were a year apart and we had made similar rules... Great minds think alike! LOL, We played chess, however we needed to up the game.
We've been playing Feudal like that for many years. 👍 I used to have some terrific battles with my step-dad that lasted days.... may he R.I.P. I had quite a few AH games, but Feudal is the only one that survived the years and many moves.
I received Feudal for Christmas in the 60's and haven't played it since. Thanks for the reminder. I also have Facts In Five.
I wonder how Facts in Five plays now? If I'm not mistaken, that's a trivia game, and some of the questions might be a bit out of date now. Who won the world series in 1955? That sort of thing
@@LegendaryTactics It ages me, but I might win against my granddaughter.
I played this in high school a few times and finally found a copy on ebay. so excited to have my own copy.
thank you for the tutorial/refresher!!!
No problem! Enjoy your new old game!
Wow! What a blast from the past. Thanks!
Glad to fuel your nostalgia!
My dad passed his copy to me. I've only ever gotten people to play it once about 20 years ago. I love it, but in an era of instant gratification and tik tok attention spans I can't find anyone to play anymore.
I wish more board games would be converted to phones as in words with friends (scrabble).
Then people could just get back to the game in their own time. No pressure, no time frame.
That's too bad! The good news is that Feudal has a great look to it that I think anyone with an interest in Chess would likely give it a go! Maybe you can look for opponents on boardgamegeek.com?
Loved this as a kid
Awesome!
I used to own 4 sets as well. I had a 3M version, as well as a couple AH. Like cretin mentioned below, we would play a massive game, that usually took around 5 hours or less. We usually kept track of the highest number of losses per turn...which I think was around 14. I loved that game. I have been thinking of ways to resurrect this game with newer pieces and map, plus one small change to the squire. The cost seemed prohibitive, but I am getting closer to solving it. Thanks for the video
You're welcome! And I look forward to seeing your version when it is done!
@@LegendaryTactics I am done! Not sure how I could show it to you. Basically, I have a vinyl 1 inch square map, I use 1 inch square colored flat blocks from Amazon to denote the terrain, and the pieces from Warlords of Europe as such. There is no squire however. Warlords has the rest of the types to assign as the pikeman, sergeant etc. I call it Feudaloid!
Hey man tell me when your finished cause that sounds awesome
My parents had a collection of 3M games which they gave me. I have really gotten into them and started trying to find the others they didn't have - including Feudal, which I just got. Having looked it over, I am pretty sure it is the 3M version with the simpler rules. Indeed the rulebook you show in the video looks more like the 3M/'60s aesthetic. I think I confirmed this by searching for the Avalon Hill rules - and sure enough, the more futsy rules popped up. Don't get me wrong, I love this video and the channel - just something I noticed.
Yes, Avalon Hill always leaned towards complexity, unfortunately. I have always thought that Feudal always looks cool, regardless of the edition.
@@LegendaryTactics I can attest that, having played it all weekend with my kids, it is a total winner! (3M rules... though I'm not anti-Avalon Hill complexity. Currently studying the Magic Realm rules to unleash on my kids eventually 😀👍)
Oh, nice!
Thank You.
You're welcome!
At 1:35 in the video, you'll see the four boards. So, top left, top right, bottom left and bottom right. In the game I own, the four boards are not connect to each other and can be turned and shuffled. In the game, the person setting up the board goes second. The person going first chooses the two boards to be their starting side. The divider is placed across the middle, and then both setup their boards.
If the game allows for setup and you can choose your side, and you are using three armies vs three armies, then I recommend taking the upper left board at 1:35 and moving it so it is on your right side for setup.
Now, look at the upper left board and, facing it, look to the upper right. You'll see a "S" shaped mountain range. Now, place your castle to the right in the open space. In order to access the castle from this position, one must move their piece along the back row, going left to right (if you're on that side of the board). What you want to have is three archers in this corner. One on the green of the castle, two in front of the single archer, and the whole back row is open.
Using this setup, there is no way for anyone to move their pieces along the back row into those three spots at the end of the row, as the three archers kill those three every time someone moves along that row.
the only way to beat this is to use a squire, entering that row, using their movement to take out one archer. ALmost impossible. By using this setup, you can use your entire army to attack - you don't need any other piece back there to defend. Just kill the opponent's squires and they can never get in.
Yes, I remember reading somewhere that there was a spot on the board like that - thanks for pointing it out! How do you house rule that one?
I call shenanigans. My Avalon Hill edition came with the four quadrants of the board 'unfolding' identically for each game. This could best be seen by the FOUR single mountain squares at EACH corner of the board...with manufacturing bracing underneath that did NOT allow for the placement of any figures! (Verified by my exhaustive search of Google Images...) These manufacturer corner mountains are missing from the 1:35 image.
Also...my memory served to show that upon setup there were a centrally located PAIR of DOUBLE rows allowing unimpeded movement both East-to-West and North-to-South in every opening setup. A key terrain feature slightly reminiscent of Stratego. These 'lanes' of advance/retreat are non existent in the 1:35 image. Further...my review of robust, red-blooded and God-fearing Feudal images shows your nefarious 'S' shaped mountain formation to be properly more centrally located in an Avalon Hill hard copy set up of Feudal. And NEVER along the edge of play as shown in 1:35.
Just sayin'.
But man it was (and is) a great game. Our major House Rule allowed the archer(s) to both move three spaces AND shoot up to three spaces each turn. They were Legolas before Tolkien was cool.
The bookshelf copy that I purchased way back when only has the instructions for Avalon Hill. It would be curious to know if the copies prior to or the copies after the one I have, had both instructions.
That's an interesting question, I'm not sure
I have two unused sets of Avalon Hill Feudal, intended for a more expansive game. Unfortunately, no one I knew was interested in playing.
That's too bad - it always looked so cool, especially back in the days where minis were really the exception rather than the rule...
Don't know were you came across the 3M version, but, recall playing this against brother and friends when teens. 68 now, so, it has been a bit of time.
It always looked so cool in the catalogs - I really wanted it as a kid, but didn't get it for whatever reason
A friend had this game and I sucked at it big time and was usually the first one eliminated but still like playing. Always played with four players.
Yes, I think 4 player might be the best player count, but I haven't play tested it to be sure...
4 boards are laid by the player who goes second, player going first lays the divider and chooses sides, "Avalon Hill" move/rule scheme.....we added 2 Dice when I was about 15. The number you roll (2-12 ) is the maximum number of soldiers you may move/attack with during your turn. We did this to add an element of chance......Then years later, I played with another lifetime feudal player and their house rules stated horses could cross but had to stop to stop in the striped "marsh" (same as the freeze required on the green) and infantry could 'climb' on and off mountains by using the shorter of their two movement axis (archer and king not allowed on mountain) They did this to nullify the 'Mountain Fortress' placement of the castle.
Those are great house rules! Feudal is a game that lends itself easily to them!
Please...What is the table top simulator you mention, can this game be played against an opponent via computer?
Yes, you can both play as long as you both have table top simulator, which can be purchased through Steam
Bellissimo , un regalo di mio padre
Meraviglioso! Spero che tu abbia giocato molti fantastici ed epici giochi di Feudal!
@@LegendaryTactics .....si, ma è vero che stanno creando una versione PC game?.
La mia scatola gioco in italiano 1964
I made my cousin play this in junior high until he got sick of it.
I loved it, and still due
I wish I had owned this one as a kid! Such a cool looking game!
So the game doesn't enforce any of the rules?
Tabletop Simulator is an application that allows you to play online together - but it is a platform for any number of games, so rules enforcement has to be managed by the players. It isn't an app custom designed for Feudal - although I think it would be cool if they made one!
I liked this in concept but too many odd, arbitrary rules make it too arbitrary and abstract for me. I wish it had just been a kind of fairy chess. I prefer the simplicity of chess games.
Spanish Play...???
No se a que se refieres. I'm not sure what you mean?