Agon (game)

Agon (or Queen's Guards or Royal Guards) is an strategy game invented by Anthony Peacock
of London, and first published in 1842.
It is a two player game played on a 6×6×6 hexagonal gameboard, and is notable for being the oldest known board game played on a board of hexagonal cells.
Rules.
Each player has one "queen" and six "guards". Players determine who moves first, then turns alternate. On each turn, a player moves one of his pieces. The object of the game is to be first to maneuver one's queen to the central hex (the "throne") at the center of the board, and surround her with all six of her guards.
Moves.
The gameboard may be thought of as a series of concentric rings of hex cells (highlighted by rings of alternating colors).
Pieces move one step at a time to an adjacent cell, either sideways in the same ring, or towards the throne to the next ring. The cell moved to must be vacant. Only the queen may move to the throne.
Captures.
A piece is captured when two enemy pieces are on adjacent sides of it, in a straight line. The player whose piece is captured must use his next turn to relocate the captured piece:
If more than one piece is captured in a turn, the player whose pieces were captured must move them one turn at a time. If one of the pieces captured was the queen, it must be moved first. If more than one guard was captured, they can be moved in any order.
Sets.
In the Victorian era, sets were sold by wood turner Thos Sherwin, and Jacques and Son.
Game tables from 18th Century France have been observed with a game board which is almost certainly Agon.
However, it is now thought that the Agon boards were later additions.
Versions of Agon are published by Waddingtons Games, House of Marbles and Kruzno.
Eugene Provenzo's "Favorite Board Games You Can Make and Play" gives detailed plans for making Agon sets.