Brandubh

This repository has python code for playing a game called Brandubh and to use various reinforcement learning methods to train a bot to play against.

Brandubh is an Irish variation of the ancient board game known as Hnefatafl. The original rules of the game are unknown but a reconstruction of the rules based on boards found in Ireland and Irish poems detailing the game are discribed at the following link:

https://www.ancientgames.org/hnefatafl-brandubh/

Installing and playing Brandubh

First, create a new conda environment with the required dependencies installed:

conda create --name brandubh python=3.8
conda activate brandubh
conda install numpy tensorflow=2.4.1 keras=2.4.3

Then clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/brenjohn/Brandubh.git

To download a trained bot to play against checkout the ZeroBot branch:

cd Brandubh
git checkout ZeroBot-15jan2023

To play the game run the play_brandubh script located in the top level directory:

python play_brandubh.py

Running tests

To run unit tests use the following commands from the top level directory:

python setup clean
python setup.py build_ext --inplace
python -m unittest

If the coverage package is installed, a test coverage report can be generated with:

python setup clean
CYTHON_TRACE=1 python setup.py build_ext --inplace
coverage run -m unittest discover
coverage combine
coverage report
coverage html