Windborne is a connection game for two players: Black and White. It is played on the spaces (cells) of an initially empty hexagonal grid of hexagons (board).

Black plays first, then turns alternate. On your turn, if there are less than three pawns on the board, place a disk of your color on an empty cell and a neutral pawn on an empty cell or onto a friendly disk that does not yet have a pawn on it. Otherwise, follow these steps:

Move a pawn zero or more times onto adjacent cells in the same direction. Each of those cells must be empty or occupied by a friendly disk only. (You cannot move onto cells occupied by pawns or enemy disks, but an enemy disk on the pawn's starting cell does not impede its movement.)
Place a disk of your color on a cell that does not yet contain a disk. If the cell contains a pawn, place your disk under it.

You win if, at the start of your turn, there is a group of interconnected disks of your color such that any path that connects more than half of the pawns (i.e. at least two) visits that group. A path need not be a straight line, and may go through any cells regardless of their contents. You lose if, at the start of your turn, your opponent has such a group and you cannot place a disk.

To make the game fair, White will have the option, on their first turn only, to swap sides with Black instead of making a regular move.

Notes

As an alternative, a different number of pawns can be used. A small odd number of pawns is recommended. Even numbers may result in connection races. The optimal number might be directly proportional to the size of the board.

Windborne is Omny with moving targets. In Windborne, a player with a massive group running through the center may still lose if, for example, two pawns end up trapped on top of adjacent enemy stones away from the center. This is less likely in Omny. Note that pawns are most easily trapped in the corners of the board.

Windborne

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