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I've been playing Hive for a while, and realized, that Beetle crawling on the enemy Bee makes the game's scenario most likely about doing this. Eliminating this possibility would allow players to use statistically larger range of strategies. Placing the Beetle on the Bee is just too easy. I don't like it. We played this "home" variant and it was alright.
Or...is all the fun about blocking enemy Beetles and preventing them from topping your Bee? Maybe more experienced players don't get strategy shortage with basic Beetle rule?
What do you think?
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Loren Cadelinia
United States
Las Vegas
Nevada
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I think removing that removes the essence from the game. A lot of good games pivoted on how well that particular move was either executed or defended.
Some ways to combat this (forgive me if this is obvious):
1) lock down their beetle early before it hops atop
2) after they top your bee, topping their beetle with one of yours
3) Having a beetle in the viscinity that you "will" top theirs if they top your bee
4) (Assuming you are 1 move behind) After they top your bee, very strategically defending the 2nd to last position around your bee (as the last position would be unstoppable from their beetle dropping down)
5) there are plenty other ways, that depend on the situation, ie starting pieces, queen placement,other pieces and placement, etc.
I've won plenty of games where my queen has been covered by a beetle early in the game mostly by #4.
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Russ Williams
Poland
Wrocław
Dolny Śląsk
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I suspect you're overestimating the "sure thing-ness" of winning by sending a beetle onto the enemy bee. It's an obvious strategy and certainly can work well, but I've seen plenty of games with strong players who don't automatically do that strategy and who win against that strategy.
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Christian Sperling
Berlin
Germany
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There is no need for restrictions like: A Beetle is not allowed to cover the Queenbee.
There are 2 advantages of covering an opponent`s Queenbee:
1) Fixing the Queen at one place
2) Option to immediately place new tiles next to the Queen for quicker surrounding (if there is not a tile of the other colour close by).
dyepbr already listed some ways how to prevent and handle a Queenbee covering but there is another one.
The "if" sentence in brackets is the key for a different defensive strategy.
You can destroy the biggest advantage of the Queenbee covering if you manage to make option 2) unavailable. Therefore you need only 2 pieces of your colour adjacent to your Queenbee at the right spots: They have to be placed at the exactly opposite sides of your Queenbee.
A Beetle on top of your Queen without option 2) is not worth too much if you know that you lose tempo by crawling on top of the Queenbee compared to regular Queenbee surrounding efforts.
If someone invests 3 moves to get on top of the Queenbee and then there is no option 2) available - he has made most of the time a bad deal compared to the enemy which went on with normal Queenbee surrounding.
Of course the two pieces you need to prevent option 2) can both be blocked but this also needs time for your opponent.
If your defending pieces (for example an ant) near your Queenbee are not blocked - you can use them later for counter attacking and you did not lose a single move for your defense against the Beetle attack.
It is a common beginner`s mistake to crawl long distances on top of the hive only to realize then that they can`t place a new tile or only one new tile next to the Queenbee they just covered. In the meantime the opponent has already won the game.
In HIVE one crucial point is tempo. The loss of a single tempo often decides over win or defeat.
Nevertheless a Beetle attack is a good idea but you should choose wisely to stop with your Beetle next to the enemy`s Queenbee and continue as normal or to invest a further move to cover it! It all depends on the specific positions of the bugs, how far your opponent has already surrounded your Queenbee and how many resources you and your opponent have in reserve.
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the problem is more about immobilized Bee than enemy color attached. as soon as the Beetle sits on the Bee the latter is out of game, in permanent check, not moving at all, can't do tricky moves to evade being surrounded. there's plenty of ways to immobilize it even without the Beetle
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Christian Sperling
Berlin
Germany
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Pinning down the Queen is necessary for further surrounding but the Beetle on top method is not the most efficient because it takes longer.
An experienced player will not start surrounding if he foresees that the Queen can escape in the next 3-4 moves and he can`t prevent that. He will gather resources instead and then start the attack.
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David Gonzalez Rice
United States
New London
Connecticut
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I'm all for variants, but I agree that this one changes the essence of the game. Queens end up immobilized in most games, not just because of the beetle. A well-placed Spider can prevent the Queen from ever taking a move, and probably should. Forcing the opponent to free up your Queen is a rare, and therefore especially satisfying, situation.
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