Jarmo

Jarmo is the third of the four games in the Asia volume from Lemery Games. 

Jarmo is claimed to be a game of Mongolian or Tatar origin, which allegedly dates back to at least the 13th century. According to legend, the grandson of Ghengis Khan always carried a version of the game with him on military campaigns and brought it to eastern Europe during the Mongol invasion. I haven't been able to find any hard evidence for the game's origin and age beyond this often-repeated claim. Interestingly, Jarmo isn't mentioned in the key board game books by Bell, Murray and Parlett ...

The aim of the game is to occupy the opponent's starting row, capturing pieces (through displacement) along the way. As such is is basically a hybrid between a positional game and a war game. Interestingly, the layout of the board is slightly asymmetrical in terms of the paths that the pieces can move on.

As with all Ludos Ancient games from Lemery Games, Jarmo comes in a nice pouch in a sturdy little cardboard box.

The board is printed cloth ...

... and this shows the pieces in their starting positions. 

As I've gotten used to by now, a very nicely produced game!