Feudal is a chess-like board wargame for 2–6 players on two or four opposing sides. It was originally published by 3M Company in 1967 as part of its bookshelf game series, and was republished by Avalon Hill after they purchased 3M's game division. The object of the game is to either occupy one's opponent's castle or to capture all of one's opponent's royalty. There are six sets of plastic pieces in three shades each of blue and brown. Each set consists of thirteen mobile figures with differing methods of movement and attack, and a stationary castle piece. The play area consists of four plastic peg boards depicting empty, rough, and mountainous terrain.
History
Feudal was originally published by 3M in 1967 as part of its bookshelf game series and later reissued by 3M in 1969 and 1973. It was reissued in 1976 and 1981 by Avalon Hill. A new German edition was issued in 1979 by Schmidt International, though the first German edition was issued by 3M in 1967.
Gameplay
Feudal is won by either capturing your opponent's castle or slaying all of his royalty (i.e. King, Prince, and Duke). Each of the six armies contains a castlepiece, one each of the royalty, one Squire, one Archer, two Knights, two Sergeants, and four Pikemen. The castlepiece has two parts, the castle and the castle green (entrance), each of which takes up one board space. To capture the castle, a figure must first be moved onto the green and wait one turn before moving into the castle proper. A player may defend his/her castle by placing a figure (except the archer or squire) inside.
Games magazine included Feudal in their "Top 100 Games of 1981", noting that "the initial set-up is done secretly, so the game is constantly surprising".
Games & Puzzles felt that the ideal version of the game was the two-player version with each player having two armies, but concluded that there was "very little classifiable strategy". The Playboy Winner's Guide to Board Games thought that the game was not "entirely successful", with the fact that players moved all of their pieces each turn reducing the gambit and planning aspect of chess.
Games magazine gave it 5/5 for originality and replayability.
Feudal has received 950 ratings with an average rating of 5.92 (on a 1–10 scale) on Board Game Geek.