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So you've bought Hive. Congratulations and welcome to one of the best abstract strategy games in the world today. But now you have a bunch of hexagonal pieces in front of you and no idea what to do. Never fear, we're here to help! Let's dive in.
Objective
Surround the opponent's Queen. It's simple, and yet can be quite tricky. Let's be specific though. A player loses if the hex their Queen is on has no adjacent empty hexes. That means that your own pieces can also contribute to your demise, something to keep in mind.
If after a piece has been moved, both Queens are now surrounded, the game is a draw.
Starting A Game
You start the game with an empty playing surface. The rules say the youngest player goes first, but you might use another method or keep swapping. Whoever you decide is going first places one of their pieces on the playing surface. This can be any piece, including the Queen. However, if it is not your Queen you must place her within the first 3 turns.
After the first piece has been placed, the other player must place one of their pieces connected to the first piece. This is the only time you can place a piece on the board touching an opponent's piece, usually they must only be touching your pieces. As play continues you can either place a piece or move a piece, however, you cannot move any pieces until your Queen has been placed.
Tips:
The first piece placed for each side tends to get trapped, so make sure you're ok losing use of that piece.
If you place the Queen early, and so does your opponent, matches tend to end in draws a lot more often. Especially if both Queens are touching.
How Each Piece Moves
Each piece in Hive, after it has been placed, moves differently. Let's review them.
- Queen - Moves 1 hex around the outside of the Hive. Not something you move often but good to know that it can.
- Ant - Moves to any space on the outside of the Hive. The backbone of your army, ants are very versatile.
- Spider - Moves 3 hexes around the outside of the Hive. Handy if positioned correctly. Can surprise people.
- Grasshopper - Jumps directly over any number of hexes in a straight line and lands on an empty space. Must jump directly over at least 1 piece. If it helps, place it on each piece as you go along, it should never overlap pieces.
- Beetle - Moves 1 hex either around the outside of the Hive, or on top of it. Also, if a Beetle is on an opponent piece, that is considered your piece for the purposes of deciding where to place new pieces. The piece it is on also cannot move. They are slow, but making good use of your beetles is key.
Expansion Pieces
While the base game doesn't include these pieces, I'll put a basic explanation here to give you an idea.
- Mosquito - This gains the abilities of any piece it is touching at the start of your turn. For example, if it's touching an Ant and a Beetle, it can move like an Ant or a Beetle. Please note that if it moves on top of the Hive like a Beetle, it remains a Beetle until it comes down again.
- Ladybug - Moves 3 hexes, 2 on top of the Hive, then 1 down into a space. This may sound a little odd, but it's useful for skipping over areas and dropping into otherwise hard to reach spaces.
- Pillbug - Slightly tricky one. It moves 1 hex around the outside of the Hive, just like the Queen. However, it has an interesting ability. Instead of moving it can pull an adjacent piece up onto itself, then put it down in another adjacent hex. There are a few exceptions which I won't go into here, but in general this is a very useful defensive ability.
The One-Hive Rule
Whenever you move a piece, you may never break the hive. But what does this mean? All the pieces in the playing area are connected as one hive. If by moving a piece it would create two or more separate hives, the move is not allowed. An easy way to check this in confusing situations - If you are thinking of moving a piece, pick up the piece and look at the playing area. Are there two or move hives? If so, you cannot move that piece.
Tips:
'Pinning' a piece to the edge of the Hive by putting your piece on the other side of it, so that if it moves it will break the hive, is a good strategy.
Gates
So you may think your Ants are all powerful, and you'd be right. They can whizz around anywhere on the outside of the Hive….almost. Ants and other pieces moving along the outside of the Hive can be blocked by gates. Gates are when there is an empty hex and the only way in is between 2 hexes whose pointed edges are facing each other. Hopefully my picture explains better, but an easy way to test is this - Can you slide your piece into the empty hex without moving any other pieces? If not, then that's a gate and your piece can't go there.
Please note that this doesn't apply to Grasshoppers, Ladybugs, Beetles, or Mosquitos copying those abilities. As those are dropping down from above, so are bypassing the gate. Unless there is also a gate on top of the Hive as well of course! I've seen it happen.
Conclusion
So there you have it, how to play Hive. This should give you a basic idea of how the game plays, but I encourage you to go out and try it for yourself. It’s one of those rare few games where it’s easy to learn, hard to master, but still fun while you do. I’d recommend starting without the expansion pieces, even if you have them, it’s easier to learn that way. If you have any questions, there is also a great community online with a love for Hive, so you should be able to find plenty of help, and even some local events to attend. So give it a try, and let us know how you get on!