Hive - Tips & Strategies

The free digital app isn’t good for much, but I found it helpful for teaching my young kids how the movement rules work. I didn’t have to spend a lot of time saying,”No, you do that” because the app won’t allow illegal placement or movement.

That said, we quickly moved on to the physical game because accidental finger swipes will ruin a game in-app.

I like to use the grasshoppers early and then attempt to jump the hive to the other side and use it as a base to deploy more pieces. The jump makes it ideal to get to the enemy side and by not using ants early you can save them for later and reduces the chance that your ants will be locked down.

When teaching Hive to younger children (<8), or to kids who simply don't have much experience playing tabletop games, it's best to introduce the game with a limited number of pieces. Then gradually introduce new pieces one-at-a-time over several games.

I used the following sequence to teach my daughter who was five at the time, but now at age six plays the full game (minus the mosquito):

Phase 1: Queen + ants + grasshoppers + beetles (to lose, queen only has to be surrounded on 4 sides)

Phase 2: Queen + ants + grasshoppers + beetles + spiders (to lose, queen only has to be surrounded on 5 sides)

Phase 3: Queen + ants + grasshoppers + beetles + spiders + ladybug (full rules; queen loses surrounded on 6 sides)

A problem with no-luck strategy games is that it can be hard for a newer player to have a good opportunity to play at an even level with an experienced player.

One handicap I have used is to turn all non-queen pieces face down and play them randomly. This won’t be a big advantage against very new players, but it should help those in the process of learning.

An additional handicap is to for every game won, the experienced player loses a non-queen piece for the next game. You can do it randomly or have the losing player choose. As the newer player starts to win, return a piece to the experienced player.

I have found this sliding handicap helps a newer player learn much quicker, and they still get to enjoy the game.

One of the biggest limitations with Hive is that it’s only for 2 players. This need not Bee the case however. You can actually play with 3 to 6 players with slight rule variations.

The hard part is getting a second set that doesn’t match your base set. There are two ways of doing this:
1> For 4: Buy a normal Hive set and a Hive:Carbon set.
2> Or: Buy 2 or 3 sets, and color in the bugs in each set with paint or a wax crayon.

Base rule changes:
1> The first move happens in unity, all choose and place together:
a> Use a triangle for 3 player.
b> Use a U shape for 4/5, middle player(s) first, end players last.
c> Use a ring/circle for 6 players.
2> You may NOT place your Queen on the first move.
3> You may delay up to the 5th placement to place your Queen.
4> You may not MOVE other bugs until you’ve placed your Queen.

When a player dies, you have three options:
1> Game ends, other players win.
2> Use Spiders Delight rules (simple).
3> Use Zombie/Queen rules (challenging).

Spiders Delight rules:
1> All bugs of the losing player are flipped, becoming dead carcasses.
2> At the start of each turn, any carcass with only one neighbor falls off the hive.
3> Spiders gain a special movement: Eat = Spiders may eat an adjacent carcass and (optionally) take it’s place, as long as the eating/moving does not break the hive.

Beetle rules: Bugs under a beetle carcasses may take a move turn to “shake it off” if there is an adjacent empty hex for the carcass. Spiders may consume an adjacent beetle carcass (one level up), though the spider may not climb up if it does so.

Zombie/Queen rules:
1> All bugs of the losing player are flipped, becoming zombies.
2> Any player may move zombie bugs (Queen movement) as a normal move.
3> Living Queen gains a special move: Sting = Queen can kill/remove an adjacent zombie unless doing so would break the hive.

Beetles: A zombie beetle can crawl along/off other bugs, but may not climb up again. For purposes of the Queen’s sting, a zombie beetle above a Queen is only adjacent to the Queen if it is directly on top of her.

Last Queen standing wins. 🙂

Many players like to play the queen as their first tile, allowing them move their first piece very quickly (as soon as the 3rd move if necessary). Unfortunately if both players do this than the game ends in a draw quite often. A simple fix for this is to not allow the queen bee to be placed on the first move of the game. This rule is also commonly used in tournament play.

The spiders are by far the hardest piece to do something useful because of their hard restrictions. Consider playing them VERY early, like first or second piece and try to quickly run around the opposing queen and tie her up. Even one border to the enemy queen held by a spider is GREAT. Ants can always quickly go where they are needed and the locusts can often be played at endgame to fill in the last slots (and the same goes for the beetle).

Ants are the most powerful bugs of your army; they move all around the hive in one move. I find them very useful to lock down enemy pieces (at start/mid-game), before the final coup de grace.
An aggressive opening (especially if you’re playing 2nd), would be: the spider(1st tile)-ant(2nd tile). You can follow with the bee(3rd tile) or another ant(3rd tile), depending on your opponent’s opening. Placing your queen-bee as a 3rd tile (2nd move), means you can start harassing/locking down enemy bugs (an enemy ant would be the best) as your 3rd move.

The Beetle can drop down and take up a required space if it is above the Queen – don’t forget to take that into account when playing.