Chesstics

Chess, but the pieces fight back

The pieces move as they do in chess — pawns advance, knights jump, bishops run the diagonals — but they do not capture by touch. Every unit has health, attack and armour. A blow deals damage, and a unit that survives a melee strikes back at once.

Because a blow only carries as far as the attacker's remaining strength, the first strike usually decides the exchange. A wounded unit is something you finish, not something you fear.

Six units, each with a job

• Pikemen advance like pawns and stop riders in their tracks

• Archers shoot two to three squares along a line — over other units — without leaving their square

• Rangers run the diagonals

• Cavalry jumps like the knight and takes the most punishment

• Queen and King stand behind them, as in chess

Every unit is strong against some and weak against others, yet no attack is forbidden. Nothing is left to dice: every exchange can be read from the unit panels before you move.

A campaign that rebuilds your army

Fight the computer stage by stage. Every battle you win pays gold, and the shop turns it into cards from a deck of 69 — sharper pikes, armoured horses, an archer who outranges the board. You carry three at a time, so every purchase is a question about what to give up.

Over each stage lies one of 24 world rules, and it changes every time: thin armour, a moonless night, a peasants' revolt where the front rank threatens everything it touches. A defeat ends the run. The stage is the difficulty — the higher you climb, the further ahead your opponent thinks.

Online, without an account

• Matchmaking pairs you with an opponent who has come just as far. Win and you climb a step; lose and you start over.

• With friends: open a room with a five-character code, optionally with a world rule and starting gold to spend on cards before the first round. No sign-up, no profile, nothing stored after the match. If your connection drops, the game brings you back and your opponent waits a minute for you.

Made with care

• Pixel art on an isometric board that builds itself before every battle

• Sound generated live — the music is four pieces of classical repertoire, synthesized from the score

• Mouse, keyboard or gamepad — or type squares: A 1 picks up a unit, A 2 moves it

• 14 languages

• Your campaign saves itself, clock included []No ads, no account, no tracking