Games Like 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

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

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