Wellington

Wellington is a 1985 game by Bruce Aslip, published by Aslip and Co.

The playing surface, called the town grid, has 100 squares. Each player owns 16 buildings: the dark buildings and the light buildings. The size of each building varies, containing from one to six squares. The number of buildings and their sizes are equal for both players. Wellington’s burgundy-colored Parliament is a neutral building that covers four squares. Each player also owns a Duke.

These are the pieces used with the game:

Rules

To begin playing, clear the town grid and separate the dark buildings and light buildings.

The first player places Parliament anywhere in the town grid. The other player then places his or her Duke in the town grid. The Duke may occupy either clear areas or a border, within two squares of an edge.

Each player, in turn, places buildings in the town grid.

Your objectives are:

1. Protect your Duke
2. Capture your opponent’s Duke
3. Capture your opponent’s buildings
4. Conquer territory

The corners are the most important parts of the town grid. You conquer territory by surrounding a corner of the town grid with your buildings. To surround a corner, your buildings must form an unbroken wall that is at least one square in thickness. Once you have conquered a corner, you own that corner for the rest of the game—unless your opponent captures it.

When you conquer a corner, remove your opponent’s captured buildings and Dukes from that corner and replace them with your own. If you capture a Duke in this way, you win the game.

Players alternate placing buildings one at a time in the town grid, following these rules:

• You may not place a building so that it overlaps another building, Duke, or Parliament.
• You may not place a building so that it extends beyond the borders of the grid.
• You may place a building in contact with another of your own buildings, but not with one of your opponent’s buildings.
• Buildings may touch the Parliament on any side.
• You may not move or remove any building once it has been placed.

Each player continues until all buildings have been placed or until one player cannot legally place a building on his or her turn.

If neither player can place another building, the game ends.

Goal. The object of Wellington is to place all of your buildings in the town grid while you block your opponent from doing the same. You win the game by capturing your opponent’s Duke, or by controlling the greatest number of territories.

• If you capture your opponent’s Duke, you automatically win. There is no need to add up the rest.
• If neither Duke has been captured by the end of the game, each player adds the total value of his or her remaining buildings and tallies the number of territories captured.
• Subtract the total of your opponent’s remaining buildings and territories from your own total. The difference is your score.
• The player with the lowest score wins the game of Wellington.

The previous text was taken from the official rules:

 

Wellington is similar to 1979's Cathedral, where an extra royal piece is included.