Core Rules

What is Wargame Chess?

Wargame Chess is a turn and activation-based tabletop wargame that uses a chess set, but also incorporates other gaming devices like dice and cards. The core rules to the game are a simple framework to support a plethora of faction options. Understanding faction differences and interactions accounts for most of the game’s nuance.

Wargame Chess is not a variation of traditional chess - though it uses the same pieces and borrows some concepts from it, it is a wholly different game.

What do I need to play?

Two players will need the following items to play Wargame Chess:

• A chess set (a board and a full set of pieces).
• 2 or more small items that fit within a board square to represent Joker pieces.
• Deck of playing cards (will often be referred to as the Minor Arcana deck).
• All 22 Major Arcana cards from a tarot deck.
• Various dice to be used between both players:
  • Six or more 4-sided dice (D4's)
  • Six or more 6-sided dice (D6's)
  • Six or more 8-sided dice (D8's)
  • Six or more 10-sided dice (D10's)
  • Four or more 20-sided dice (D20's)
• 6 items to represent Trees on the board.
• Items to represent Blessing and Curse tokens.
  • we recommend different coloured poker chips, as these sit under most chess pieces very well
• Two distinct types of small dice to represent Advantage and Disadvantage tokens, place these next to pieces to keep track of such token quantities.
  • We recommend the dice used for Advantage tokens match the colour of your Blessing tokens, and the dice used for Disadvantage tokens match the colour of your Curse tokens.
• A way to mark chess pieces so they become visually distinct among their own type (eg. a way to differentiate between Pawns on a team).
  • We suggest using numbers written on the pieces with a marker, using numbered stickers, or colour-coding them in some way.

Not necessary, but suggested:

• Themed pieces for your favourite faction.
  • If these are not chess pieces, make sure your opponent knows what they represent before your game starts!
• A notepad.
  • Use this to record information of a game which is not accommodated by the Activation Tracker.

To start a standard game

The next thing each player must do, after assembling the items mentioned on the previous page, is choose different factions. Each faction has different rules, strengths, handle certain situations better than others, or have tools at their disposal others wouldn't. You can find all factions here.

Most factions are not designed to pick up and play without pondering synergies and tactics. Your game will be far more enjoyable if you take the time to thoroughly read through your options and strategize.

Factions have varying degrees of rules and interactions you will need to be mindful of at key times. If you are unsure of how a rule is supposed to work, read through all the footnotes at the bottom of their page for clarification. If you are still left unsure as to how something functions, discuss and agree to a solution with your opponent.

To assess factions at a glance, they are assigned a star rating. Here is what they mean:

Star Rating	Explanation
★	These factions are fairly straightforward. New players and seasoned players alike should be able to understand their nuances quickly.
★★	Two-star factions require a bit more effort to learn. New players may need a few games to get comfortable with them. Experienced players should be able to understand them within a game or two.
★★★	Three-star factions may be difficult to pilot for newer players. Experienced players may need to play a few games with them to find their groove.

Building a team

Once both players have chosen a faction to play as, they will need to build a team list using options from that faction’s page. You can use the Activation Tracker or a notepad to organise your team, note rules that happen at certain times, and track other game information.

A team consists of exactly 14 points worth of Pieces and Upgrades.

Below we will explain how faction rules, piece choices, their quantities, and upgrades fit into your team list.

Faction Rules and Upgrades

Faction rules always apply their effects to that particular faction.

Upgrades are like Faction rules, except they have a point cost in parentheses after their name, and only apply their effects to that particular faction if you account for their cost in your team list. Be sure your opponent knows which Upgrades you have taken in a match.

Piece costs and quantities

The following point costs are the same across every faction in the game.

Piece type	Point cost
Pawns	1
Kings, Bishops, Knights, Rooks, and Jokers	2
Queens	3

Under their name, each piece will have a quantity allowance - listing how many of them you can have in a team. Here are a few examples of what you may see in faction entries and what they mean:

Quantity limit example	Meaning
(0-2)	You may have 0, 1, or 2 of this piece in your team list.
(2-8)	You must take at least 2 of this piece, and may take no more than 8.
(1)	You must have exactly 1 of this piece in your list - no more, no less.
(0)	You cannot include this piece in your starting team list. However, some rules may add this piece to your team throughout the course of a game.

Some rules may add pieces to your team throughout the game, and in some situations can cause you to have more than 14 points worth of pieces on the board! However, you can never have a piece added to the board if doing so would bring a piece type's total quantity beyond its listed quantity range maximum (eg. if your faction allows you to bring 0-2 Knights, your team could never have 3 or more), or the number of pieces that come with a standard chess set (eg. a standard set comes with 8 Pawn pieces, therefore your team can never have more than 8 Pawns).

Multiple options for one piece type

Some factions may list many options for a piece type (eg. They could have two different entries for a Rook). In such cases you may only run 1 of those options in your team list.

The exception to this are Joker options; as each Joker uses a unique model on the board, if a faction lists multiple Joker options, a player may include any/all of them in one list.

There are some situations where players using certain factions are allowed to Summon pieces to the board that may not have been in their starting team list. These different options cannot be on the board simultaneously.

As an example, say a player was using "Knight option A" from their faction, and had the opportunity to Summon "Knight option B", they could not do so while option A is on the board. However, once all pieces of "Knight option A" are slain or removed from the board, and there is 1 Knight piece in the Summon zone, they could now Summon "Knight option B". Be sure to effectively communicate any changes during the game like this to your opponent. Going further with this example, if the player summoned "Knight option B" while the other Knight piece was removed from the board or slain, and a rule gave an opportunity for the piece to come back to the board, it cannot come back to the board:

• As "Knight option A"
• If "Knight option B" has a quantity restriction of (0-1) or (1)

Rank

Each piece on a faction’s roster is listed in ranking order - with the highest ranking piece at the top of the table, and the lowest ranking piece at the bottom. Almost every faction has a unique ranking hierarchy, and because of this no rule will ever compare rankings between different factions. Though some rules may compare ranking between pieces in the same faction.

Rolling dice

Rolling dice for pieces

Pieces will have different dice types based on their identity:

Piece type	Dice type
Pawn	Two D4's
Knight	Two D6's
Rook	Two D6's
Bishop	Two D6's
Queen	Two D8's
King	Two D10's
Joker	One D20

When a rule or action prompts a player to roll their piece's dice, these are the steps you follow:

1. Determine any modifiers (this could mean Advantage/Disadvantage, or other types of modifiers)
2. If the piece has any, players now have a chance to spend 1 Advantage token or 1 Disadvantage token and apply its effect to the roll.
3. Roll the piece's dice.
4. Sum the results of the dice, applying all modifiers.
5. Compare roll totals, the rule will tell you how to proceed with these values.

Rolling dice otherwise

Sometimes a rule or action will tell you, the player, to roll various dice, and this roll may not have a direct connection to a piece. The rule or action will tell you what to do and how to interpret the results.

Moves and Attacks

Move

When a piece Moves, it travels along a path as described in its entry (in the Piece types, dice, and common piece rules section below). During a Move, a piece cannot end up in a square occupied by other pieces. As well, a piece cannot end its Move in a square - or pass through squares - occupied by terrain features (like Trees) unless it has special rules that allow it to do so in some capacity.

In this example, a Queen is hoping to Move to the square marked X. As there is a Tree blocking its path, it cannot Move to the intended square and must select another square to Move to.

A piece must travel at least 1 square during a Move if possible. If a piece is not able to Move (either by a rule saying it cannot, or perhaps other pieces/terrain are blocking its possible paths of movement), then it is permitted to travel fewer than 1 square.

Attack

When a piece Attacks, it travels along the Attack path as described in its entry (see the Piece types, dice, and common piece rules section below).

A piece may only do its Attack if it would end up in a square occupied by an enemy piece (though some rules allow pieces to Attack non-enemy things, or even Attack allies). While a piece is Attacking another, both count as occupying that square and must complete this Attack sequence to resolve this:

1. Determine any modifiers (this could mean Advantage/Disadvantage, or other types of modifiers) for each piece.
2. If the pieces have any, players now each have a chance to spend 1 Advantage token or 1 Disadvantage token from their piece and apply its effect to the rolls.
3. Roll the pieces' dice.
4. Sum the results of the dice, applying all modifiers.
5. Compare roll totals...

If the Attacking piece has a greater total, they have slain the Defending piece, and it is placed in the ‘slain’ zone on their player's Activation Tracker.

If the Defender has an equal or greater total, they do one of the following:

• Place the Attacker in an unoccupied adjacent square and give them a Disadvantage token, OR…
• They place themselves in an unoccupied adjacent square and gain an Advantage token.

Either of these options are what is referred to as Combat Movement.

"...cannot be slain..."

Occasionally, some pieces may have a rule in their entry stating (commonly under certain conditions) that they cannot be slain. Often it specifies what to do instead; in case it doesn’t, place that piece into an unoccupied adjacent square if possible. If that is somehow not possible, its owner redeploys it.

Rarer yet, are effects that ignore an inability to be slain. If a piece cannot be slain under certain conditions, and those conditions are being met, yet there is a rule that ignores such effects, the piece can be slain despite the rule preventing its slaying.

eg. A King piece is on the board, and The Emperor tarot card is active - which prevents Kings from being slain while they have allies on the board. This King is now being Attacked by a Deadiron Sentinel - whose rule states that pieces being Attacked by it cannot have their slaying prevented (among other things). Even though there is an effect saying this King cannot be slain at this time, another rule is denying that type of effect.

Piece types, dice, and common piece rules

Each piece type uses a specific type of dice for their rolls. The dice used for a type of piece are universal, and not different between factions. Likewise, the way each piece type Moves and Attacks are universal, and not different between factions.

There are a few special rules listed below in each piece type’s entry. Pieces of a particular type will have these rules by default and will not be listed in a faction’s entry. However, some factions may have their version of a piece not have one of these rules (eg. a handful of factions’ Pawns lose their Promotion rule) - it is assumed that all piece options of a particular type have the rules listed below unless a rule mentioned in their faction entry says otherwise.

Pawn

A Pawn Moves 1 square vertically or horizontally, and Attacks 1 square diagonally.

Pawns use 2D4 for their dice and have the following common rules:

• En Passant:
  • During its first Activation of the game, you may Move this Pawn twice.
• Promotion:
  • At the start of this Pawn's Activation or Reactivation, if it is within your opponent's deployment zone, you may remove it from the board and place a slain, non-Legendary positional into the square that Pawn was just in. This positional counts as having Activated only if it Activated earlier this turn.

Directions a Pawn may Move from its current position.

Directions a Pawn may Attack from its current position.

Rook

A Rook Moves 1 to 8 squares vertically or horizontally, and Attacks 1 to 8 squares vertically or horizontally.

Rooks use 2D6 for their dice and have the following common rule:

• Castle
  • When this Rook ends their Move adjacent to a non-Rook ally, they may swap places with them. If they do and that ally is lower in rank than this Rook, give that ally an Advantage token; if that ally is higher in rank than this Rook, instead remove a Disadvantage token from it (if it has any).

Directions a Rook may Move from its current position.

Directions a Rook may Attack from its current position.

Knight

A Knight's Move places it into a square which is two squares vertically and one square horizontally from its current position, or two squares horizontally and one square vertically, jumping over other pieces or terrain; it Attacks this way as well.

Knights use 2D6 for their dice and have the following common rule:

• Mounted Advantage
  • When Attacking a non-Knight enemy, if there are other enemies adjacent to the square that this Knight and its target are in (during an Attack resolution, both pieces temporarily share a square), roll this Knight’s dice at Advantage.

Places a Knight can Move from its current position.	Places a Knight can Attack from its current position.

Bishop

A Bishop Moves 1 to 8 squares diagonally, and Attacks 1 to 8 squares diagonally.

Bishops use 2D6 for their dice, and have no common special rule.

Directions a Bishop may Move from its current position.	Directions a Bishop may Attack from its current position.

Queen

A Queen Moves 1 to 8 squares vertically, horizontally or diagonally, and Attacks 1 to 8 squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.

Queens use 2D8 for their dice, and have no common special rule.

Directions a Queen may Move from its current position.	Directions a Queen may Move from its current position.

King

A King Moves 1 square vertically, horizontally or diagonally, and Attacks 1 square vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.

Kings use 2D10 for their dice, and have the following common rule:

• Faction Leader
  • When this piece is slain, their player loses the game immediately.

Directions a King may Move from its current position.	Directions a King may Attack from its current position.

Joker

For a Joker’s Move, you place it into an unoccupied adjacent square, then you may do that up to two more times. In total, a Joker can traverse 1, 2, or 3 squares during its Move. Jokers cannot Attack. Jokers use 1D20 for their dice and have the following common rule:

• Fool's Endeavour
  • If all a player has left on the board are pieces with this rule, they lose the game immediately.
  • At the end of the turn, remove any/all Dis/Advantage tokens from this piece.

Possible squares a Joker could end its Move in from its current position.

Other common rules, rule tags, and shorthand terms

In the rules here, and in various faction rules, you may encounter the following terms.

Term	Description
Board half (term)	A player's board half comprises the four board ranks closest to them. Their opponent's board half comprises the four board ranks closest to their opponent.
Dis/Advantage (term)	Used as a shorthand for "Advantage and Disadvantage".
Legendary (rule)	When a player is resolving their Pawn's Promote rule, they cannot choose a slain ally piece with this rule to replace that Pawn.
Major arcana, minor arcana, and bone reading (rule tags)	Some rules (of both faction rules and piece rules) can have these tags after their name. Rules with these tags are considered 'faith mechanic' rules, and utilise or reference the major arcana deck, the minor arcana deck, and/or bone reading dice pool in some way. You can read about these in greater detail in the Faith Mechanics section further down this page.
Occupied/Unoccupied/Co-occupy (term)	A square counts as being occupied when it contains terrain or a piece. Some rules may cause special types of tokens to be placed into squares; tokens alone cannot occupy a square. A square counts as being unoccupied if there are no pieces or terrain in it.
Positional (term)	A positional is any piece that isn't a Pawn. Kings, Queens, Bishops, Knights, Rooks, and Jokers are all positionals.
Re/Activation (term)	Used as a shorthand for "Activation or Reactivation". Though an Activation and Reactivation are functionally very similar, some rules specifically address one or the other. For rules referencing both, we often use this "Re/Activation" shorthand.
Re/Deploy (term)	Used as a shorthand for "Deploy or Redeploy". Though Deploying and Redeploying are nearly identical, the distinction is when it happens. The first time a piece is placed on the board (whether that be anywhere thereon or in their deployment zone) that is 'deployment'. Each time this happens thereafter is 'redeployment'. Some rules specifically address one or the other.
Success / Failure (terms)	Some rules or effects mention a condition being a roll succeeding or failing, this is done to keep wording brief. A success of a roll would be if the action taking place for the piece rolling did end up happening, and a failure would be the opposite.
Summon (rule tag)	Some rules (of both faction rules and piece rules) can have the summon tag after their name, which means at some point when resolving that rule's effects you may be required to place a piece - which isn't a part of your starting team - onto the board. Read through these rules carefully and see what piece type(s) they can summon, and set them aside in a 'Summon' zone (like the one on our Activation Tracker sheet you can download and print).

Setup

Each player chooses opposing board halves. Determine who will be setting up Trees on their half of the board first. You may do this by verbal agreement, or by random means - such as flipping a coin.

Tree Setup

Trees are a type of terrain that occupy squares on the board. While a terrain piece is occupying a square, pieces cannot enter that square unless they have a rule permitting them to do so. Trees are the most common type of terrain players will see; less common types are Holes and Water.

The player who is setting up Trees first rolls a D4 and a D8. The D4 result determines what rank (in the board half closest to them) it will be in, and the D8 will determine the file. Place a Tree on that square. Do this again 2 more times. If a Tree would end up on a square with a Tree already on it, re-roll the D4 and/or D8.

Then the other player chooses one of the following for the Tree setup in their half:

• They may mirror the Tree setup in the other half of the board.
• They may mirror and horizontally flip the Tree setup.
• They may randomly generate a Tree setup (as described above).

Piece Setup

Regardless of their choice, the player who generates Tree setup second will be the first to deploy their pieces. Unless stated otherwise in a faction’s special rules, pieces are set up in a player’s deployment zone - which are the two ranks on the board closest to the player.

Whenever a rule mentions redeploying a piece, you set it up anywhere within your deployment zone. When prompted to redeploy, pieces that are already in your deployment zone may be kept where they are, and they will count as having been redeployed.

Card and Dice Setup

The following things to set up are dependent on team composition and have detailed explanations later on:

1. If any players’ pieces use the Minor Arcana mechanic, shuffle that deck and set it aside face down.
2. If no Joker pieces are present in either team, the Joker cards are left in the Minor Arcana deck.
   • If the total number of Joker pieces being used by players is 1 or 2, remove 1 Joker card from the deck and set it aside face up before the game starts.
   • If the total number of Joker pieces being used are 3 or greater, remove both Joker cards from the deck and set them aside face up before the game starts.
3. If any players’ pieces use the Major Arcana mechanic, shuffle that deck and set it aside face down.
4. If a player's pieces use the Bone Reading mechanic, they assemble these dice pools and keep them aside.
   • Each bone pool will only be used by its player.
   • If a player's team has any Pawns, add a D4 to this collection. If it has any Knights, Rooks, and/or Bishops, add a D6. If it has a Queen, add a D8. If it has a King, add a D10. If it has any Jokers, add a D20.
   • Do not use these dice for any rolling beyond those required by bone reading effects. Some bone reading rules require the rolled results to be preserved until some later point.
5. Lastly, make sure you have enough other dice to be used for each of your types of pieces you are taking on your team.

Setup order chart

Setting pieces up randomly

This is a rare situation, but when a rule calls for pieces to be placed randomly or deployed randomly on the board, do the following:

• Roll two D8, one after the other. The first determines which rank of the board that piece will be set up in, and the second will determine the file.
• If the square at that coordinate is unoccupied, place that piece in that square. If the square is occupied and it cannot co-occupy that square with whatever is occupying it, you may re-roll one or both dice, or scatter the piece from that square (more on this below).
  • Some pieces have rules which allow them to co-occupy a square with other things (such as specific terrain types).

Scattering

When a player is prompted to ‘Scatter’ a piece, token, or other on-board item, assign each square adjacent to them a value from 1-8 (it doesn’t matter the order you number them, just be consistent). Once you’ve done that, roll a D8, and move that item into the unoccupied square matching the result. If the item cannot be placed into that square (it is occupied and/or they cannot co-occupy the square with whatever is in it) re-roll the D8.

Pieces off the board

There are a few situations where pieces may not be on the board. The most common of which is when a piece has been slain. Less common situations involve rules that may cause a piece to be deployed or set up on the board at a later time, or rules that temporarily remove pieces from the board. As well, pieces that could be summoned by a faction’s rules are kept off the board.

We advise players to use the Activation Tracker sheet provided to organise their pieces which aren’t on the board.

In some situations, pieces that have been removed from the board may return to it by some means. In all cases like this, those pieces returned to the board do not count as having Activated unless they did so earlier in the turn, or the rule bringing them back says otherwise.

• Eg. A Knight Activates in turn 3, is slain, then is returned to the board later in turn 3; it still counts as having Activated.

Turn structure

The following is a technical breakdown of the game’s turn structure, and while this first section is functionally comprehensive, the following section shows a simplified breakdown of a turn.

Comprehensive turn breakdown

1. Beginning of turn effects
   • A) Determine who is Activating first this turn
     • This is generally the player who did not Re/Activate a piece last in the previous turn - some rules may alter this.
   • B) All effects that happen at the start of the turn resolve in the following order. For each of these steps, players will go back and forth resolving relevant and applicable rules, one at a time, starting with the player who will be Activating pieces first this turn.
     • Faction rules
     • Faction upgrades
     • Piece rules
2. Activations
   • A) Player Activates a piece that hasn’t Activated yet this turn (read below section: Activations)
     • The player Activating first this turn starts this off.
     • If a player has Activated all their pieces when they are passed opportunity to Activate, they instead Reactivate a piece.
   • B) Any “between Activations” effect triggered in the previous Re/Activation resolves now.
     • If a player has multiple effects to resolve here, they choose the order in which they resolve.
     • If both players have effects to resolve here, the player who just Re/Activated a piece resolves their effects first.
   • C) Does one team have no pieces on the board? If so, the player with pieces on the board wins immediately.  If not, proceed.
   • D) Are there still pieces on the board that haven't been Activated? If yes, the other player goes back to step 2A; if not, both players go to step 3.
3. End of turn effects
   • A) All “at end of turn” effects resolve in this order; players go back and forth like at the start of the turn, but starting with the player who did not have the last piece Re/Activation.
     • Faction rules
     • Faction upgrades
     • Piece rules

General turn breakdown

1. "Beginning of Turn" effects.
2. One player Activates a piece of theirs that hasn’t Activated yet this turn. If all their pieces have Activated, they instead choose one of their pieces and Reactivate it.
3. Any "between Activations" effects resolve now.
4. If there are still pieces left to Activate on the board, repeat steps 2 and 3 for the other player.
5. "End of Turn" effects.

Activations

The player who has set their pieces up first is the player who Activates a piece first in a game. For each turn beyond the first, the player who Activates a piece first is the player who didn’t have the last Activation or Reactivation of the previous turn. Though, some special rules may alter this.

Activation

An Activation for a piece involves:

1. The player resolves any rules’ effects that can happen at the start of their Activation.
   • Should multiple effects attempt to happen at this point, the owner of the Activating piece chooses the order in which they resolve.
2. Move or Attack.
3. The player resolves any rules’ effects that can happen at the end of their Activation.
   • Should multiple effects attempt to happen at this point, the owner of the Activating piece chooses the order in which they resolve.

Reactivation

If the opportunity to Activate a piece is given to a player by the turn order and all of their remaining pieces have been Activated this turn, but their opponent has 1 or more pieces that haven’t Activated, the player must Reactivate one of their pieces. You may Reactivate pieces of yours that were already Reactivated this turn.

When a piece Reactivates, if it has no Disadvantage tokens, give it one. Then have it carry out the steps of an Activation.

Objective

A normal game of chess ends in a checkmate, but in this game not every team will have a King piece to make things so decisive.

The goal of this game is to eliminate all of your opponent’s pieces. If at any point a player has no more pieces left on the board, their opponent wins the game.

Some pieces or factions may have other ways of attaining victory (such as being granted victory if they meet a particular condition). If a game reaches the end of Turn 10 and no player has achieved victory by some means, both players add up the number of points worth of pieces they each have on the board, add to that the number of points in upgrades they each took, and compare totals - the player with the greater total wins. If both point totals are the same, the game is a draw.

Inconclusive games

If you are unable to resolve a game for whatever reason, the player with a greater points worth of pieces on the board, plus points worth of upgrades, wins. If both point totals are the same, the game is a draw.

Advantage and Disadvantage

When a piece is rolling their dice at Advantage, instead of summing the results of the rolled dice, they double the result of the higher one. Inversely, when a piece is rolling at Disadvantage, they double the result of the lower die instead.

If a piece would be granted Advantage on a roll it has Disadvantage on - or vice versa - they cancel each other out. If there are multiple instances of Advantage and Disadvantage applying to the same roll, each instance of one cancels out an instance of the other.

If a piece would be granted Advantage on a roll and a rule is preventing them from rolling at Advantage, that roll does not happen at Advantage. The same applies for Disadvantage and the preventing of such.

Advantage and Disadvantage Tokens

Pieces with Advantage tokens may spend 1 before they roll both their dice to give themselves Advantage on that roll.

If a piece has any Disadvantage tokens and they are prompted to roll their dice, they must spend 1 such token before rolling them - doing so gives Disadvantage on that roll.

In either case, you cannot spend more than 1 Advantage or Disadvantage token during a roll to apply their effect (eg. you piece is being given Disadvantage on their Attack roll, but they also have 2 Advantage tokens. You may spend 1 of those tokens to cancel out the Disadvantage on the roll, but you cannot then spend the 2nd token to give it Advantage). However, some special rules may allow a piece to spend multiples of these tokens for some other bonus or effect.

If a piece with an Advantage token would receive a Disadvantage token - or vice versa - they cancel each other out. This applies also when managing larger quantities of these tokens (eg. If a piece has 4 Disadvantage tokens and they are given 3 Advantage tokens, they will be left with 1 Disadvantage token).

If a piece would spend an Advantage token to roll its dice at Advantage but some effect is preventing that roll from being at Advantage, the token is still spent and they cannot roll their dice at Advantage. The same is true if a piece must spend a Disadvantage token, but some effect is preventing it from rolling its dice at Disadvantage - the token is spent, but it still cannot roll its dice at Disadvantage.

Dis/Advantage and Jokers

As Jokers only roll one die, they cannot roll it at Advantage or Disadvantage. If a Joker receives any Dis/Advantage tokens, they cannot spend them to gain Dis/Advantage. At the end of the turn, remove any/all Dis/Advantage tokens on all Jokers. A player cannot voluntarily give their own Joker either type of token unless it is the only legal target for one. A player may give an opponent’s Joker either type of token even if there are other valid targets.

Example interaction

A Knight with an Advantage token will Attack an enemy who is adjacent to another enemy, but…

1. …there is an effect preventing the Knight from Attacking at Advantage.
   • The Advantage granted to the Knight from its rule Mounted Advantage is inhibited. And though it will have an opportunity to spend a token, the Advantage token will have no effect.
2. …there is an effect making the Knight Attack at Disadvantage.
   • The Advantage granted to the Knight from its rule Mounted Advantage is cancelled out by the Disadvantage affecting it, making its roll normal. It still gets an opportunity to spend the Advantage token it has; if it does spend it, its dice go from being rolled normally to being rolled at Advantage.

Blessings and Curses

Blessed

If an effect would cause a piece on your team to receive one or more Advantage tokens, other ally pieces which have a Blessing token also receive one. This cannot trigger before the first Activation of the game. If a piece with a Blessing token would receive a Curse token, they cancel each other out and both are removed from the piece. A piece that is Blessed cannot have another Blessing token placed on it, nor be a target for a Blessing token.

Blessed pieces cannot gain Advantage tokens as a consequence of another Blessed piece gaining an Advantage token from an initial trigger (i.e. there is no infinite feedback loop of receiving those tokens).

Cursed

If an effect would cause a piece on your team to receive one or more Disadvantage tokens, other ally pieces which have a Curse token also receive one. This cannot trigger before the first Activation of the game. If a piece with a Cursed token would receive a Blessing token, they cancel each other out and both are removed from the piece. A piece that is Cursed cannot have another Cursed token placed on it, nor be a target for a Curse token.

Cursed pieces cannot gain Disadvantage tokens as a consequence of another Cursed piece gaining a Disadvantage token from an initial trigger (i.e. there is no infinite feedback loop of receiving those tokens).

Example interaction

The following pieces are on the same team:

• Piece A
• Piece B (Blessed)
• Piece C (Blessed)

Situation 1:

• Piece A gains 3 Advantage tokens from a rule’s effect. As Pieces B and C are Blessed, they see that their ally gained some number of Advantage tokens, so they each gain 1 Advantage token. No other Advantage tokens will be gained.

Situation 2:

• Piece A has a rule that gives it an Advantage token when it successfully Attacks, and Piece B has a rule that gives allies an Advantage token when they successfully Attack. Piece A successfully Attacks. Piece A’s rule gives it an Advantage token, so Pieces B and C each gain 1, as they are each Blessed. Piece B’s rule gives Piece A an Advantage token, thus Pieces B and C each gain 1 more from their Blessings.

Other types of roll modifiers

+X or -X

Sometimes a rule may give +/- X to a roll total. X is a variable modifier defined by the rule giving it that bonus or penalty, and its value is determined during the roll being made.

eg. A rule is stating that all Bishops get +X to their roll totals where X is the number of tarot cards currently dealt out. A Bishop rolls its dice, and the sum of both dice results in 7. However, the current number of tarot cards currently dealt out is 3, so the Bishop's roll total becomes 10 (7+3).

...would be lesser/greater than X, it becomes equal to X instead.

This modifier substitutes the roll total for a determined value if the roll itself would be above or below a specified threshold.

eg. A rule is stating that if a piece would roll their dice and the total would be less than the number of slain pieces (X), it becomes equal to that instead. A Pawn rolls its dice, and the sum of both dice results in 2. However, the current number of slain pieces in the game is 5, so the Pawn's roll total becomes 5 instead of 2.

Targets and Roll Success/Failure

Choosing valid targets

If you would go to resolve an effect that requires a target (often a piece), you must select a valid target that meet the mentioned criteria (e.g. if you would go to Curse a piece that cannot be Cursed, you must instead select a piece that can be). If there is no valid target, the parts of the effect that require a target cannot resolve. Should an effect have multiple steps to its resolution, but only some parts requiring a target cannot resolve, the other parts that don’t require a target may still resolve - given that they are not contingent on the other target-requiring part to resolve.

Most of the time, effects cannot target pieces or such that are not on the board, unless they specify otherwise.

The word "target" may not specifically be used, but is implied. If a rule would say something like, "When this King rolls doubles on a Defence roll, slay an enemy Pawn between Activations," the enemy Pawn is the intended target, and for a Pawn to be a valid target in this example, it would need to meet the following criteria:

• It is a Pawn,
• It is on the board,
• The Pawn does not have a rule preventing this action from happening.

Succeeding or Failing a roll

Some rules or effects mention a condition being a roll succeeding or failing, this is done to keep wording brief. A success of a roll would be if the action taking place for the piece rolling did end up happening, and a failure would be the opposite.

As an example, a Knight is Attacking an enemy Rook. If the Knight’s Attack roll was higher than the Rook’s Defence roll, then the Knight’s Attack roll would be considered a success and the Rook’s Defence roll would be considered a failure.

Even in cases where a commonly bad outcome (eg. a player's piece fails a Defence roll) could be seen as advantageous for a player's strategy, that outcome is still considered a failure. Success or failure is based on the intent of the roll's function, and not on the overall strategic goal.

Faith Mechanics

These are a type of rule that interacts with:

• the Major Arcana/Tarot deck,
• the Minor Arcana/Playing card deck,
• or the Bone Reading mechanic.

Rules that interact with a particular mechanic of this type will say which one they use in brackets after their rule name.

Bone Reading

The Bone Reading mechanic is a pool of dice you assemble at the start of the game (unless stated otherwise in a rule's description). The contents of this pool of dice are based on the pieces on your team.

• If you have any Pawns on your team, add a D4 to the pool.
• If you have any Knights, Rooks, and/or Bishops, add a D6 to the pool.
• If you have a Queen, add a D8.
• If you have a King, add a D10.
• If you have any Jokers, add a D20.

Each rule that utilses this mechanic will tell you how to use this and interpret the results when prompted to roll. You do not share this dice pool with your opponent.

To avoid mixing these up with your die used for normal rolls, keep this dice pool separate from your other dice at all times. We recommend using a small flat dish with short walls to hold these.

Minor Arcana

This involves using a standard 52 playing card deck (including the joker cards unless they have been removed - see the Setup section). Each faction that uses this will tell you what to do with it. If both players are using this mechanic, they share the same deck. While set up, the deck is kept face down.

You may use the Minor Arcana cards from a complete tarot set, however you will need to edit its composition so that it matches a standard deck of playing cards:

• remove the Pages of each suit,
• the suit of Wands/Batons/Rods counts as Clubs,
• the suit of Cups counts as Hearts,
• the suit of Swords count as Spades,
• and the suit of Coins/Pentacles/Disks count as Diamonds.

Cards that get revealed and kept aside until the end of the turn get shuffled away then. Unless stated otherwise, these cards are kept face up.

Cards that get revealed and kept aside until the end of the game are not shuffled away at the end of the turn, and usually have some way of getting returned to the deck or discarded. Unless stated otherwise, these cards are kept face up. Both of these may have exceptions in special rules - read each one carefully.

Cards from this deck may become discarded. When this occurs, keep them in a distinct pile from the face-down deck. These cannot be drawn from (though if a rule says to search for a particular card, you look through this discard pile as well). These cards are kept face up. At the end of the turn, shuffle these back into the deck.

While any of these cards are in a deck or pile that is facing up, they can be looked through at any time by either player. While any of these cards are in a deck or pile that is facing down, they cannot be looked through - except in the case of a rule causing a player to make their own face-down pile, which they can look through at any time.

Major Arcana

This involves using the 22-card Major Arcana tarot card deck. Different versions of tarot decks have existed throughout history and still exist in a wide variety. Depending on the tarot deck you are using, you may need to edit its composition for play of this game. Since certain decks may not include some cards used for substitutions, we’ve included some alternate cards to use in their place (eg. if you are using a Minchiate tarot deck, use the Faith trump card for the High Priestess). If you are using a version where there is no named substitute for a card mentioned below, you and your opponent should agree to an alternate card from the deck that can be used in its place.

While set up, the deck is kept face down and cannot be looked through unless a rule prompts a player to search for a particular card. Rules that use this deck may tell you to “Divinate”. When a special rule prompts you to Divinate, do one of the following actions:

• Shuffle away all tarot cards that are dealt out (do not shuffle in discarded tarot cards), then deal out 3 from the top of the deck to be facing up. The first of these cards dealt out will be the active card. However, if the rule causing the Divination mentions specific cards in brackets, the player resolving the Divination may choose for one of those to be active instead if they are currently dealt out. These cards in brackets can be referred to as a piece’s “preferred cards”.
• Of the cards that are already dealt out, choose an inactive card to become the new active card. The current active card becomes inactive.

Cards from this deck may become discarded. When this occurs, keep them in a distinct, face-up pile aside from the deck. These cannot be drawn from but players may look through it at any time (and searched through is a rule prompts such). At the end of the turn, shuffle these back into the deck.

Tarot cards and their effects

Tarot cards can feature two types of effects: ones that resolve immediately upon being made active, and/or passive effects that trigger under certain conditions while they are active. Read each one carefully.

Card name	Card effects
The Fool / The Madman	Immediate: When this card becomes active, turn any/all Joker cards face up. Passive: While this card is active, Jokers cannot be slain.
The Magician / The Juggler / Illness	Passive: While this card is active, if a piece would slay another with an Attack roll that was at Advantage, the owner of the Attacking piece may replace them with a slain piece from their team that is of higher rank.
The High Priestess / Faith / The Popess	Passive: While this card is active, when a player goes to choose which piece to Activate their opponent chooses which piece they Activate instead. This does not apply to Reactivations.
The Empress / Night, Day	Passive: While this card is active, pieces cannot become Cursed while they are adjacent to a Tree. Immediate: When this card becomes active, Curse the highest ranked piece on the team which has more slain pieces.
The Emperor / Protection	Passive: While this card is active: Kings cannot be slain unless they are the last piece of their team on the board. Kings cannot Attack.
The Hierophant / The Pope	Immediate: When this card becomes active, Bless each Bishop. Then, for each Bishop of theirs that was just Blessed, each player may Curse up to one piece that does not have a faith mechanic rule.
The Lovers	Immediate: Starting with the player that made this card active, each player Blesses an enemy piece then Curses a piece of their own.
The Chariot / Dissension	Immediate: When this card becomes active, remove all Curses from pieces belonging to the player with fewer pieces on the board. Passive: While this card is active, the player with fewer pieces on the board cannot have their pieces be Cursed. As well, for the player with more pieces on the board, Blessed pieces of theirs cannot be Cursed.
Justice	Passive: While this card is active, if an enemy piece would slay one of yours, Curse that piece or a piece on their team that is of equal or higher rank as the one who slayed. If all eligible targets are already Cursed, slay one of them instead.
The Hermit / The Sage / Traitor	Immediate: When this card becomes active, the highest ranked Blessed piece on each team gains an Advantage token; then give a Disadvantage token to each piece that is not adjacent to another piece or terrain.
Wheel of Fortune / Fortune	Immediate: When this card becomes active, do each of the following (if they are in play): Flip all Joker cards (face up cards get turned face down, and vice versa). Each player with a bone pool rolls them and gains a die of the type(s) that rolled the lowest result. All cards in the Minor arcana deck are discarded, and any Minor Arcana cards that were previously discarded are now shuffled into the deck (the deck and discard switch places). Shuffle all tarot cards into the major arcana deck and Divinate again.
Strength / Sovereign	The player that makes this card active chooses one of the following: Passive: While this card is active, the highest ranked pieces on each team Attack at Advantage and cannot be slain. Passive: While this card is active, give a piece a Disadvantage token immediately after they unsuccessfully Attack.
The Hanged Man / Prudence / The People	The player that makes this card active chooses one of the following: Immediate: They may slay one of their own pieces. If they do, they remove all Curses and Disadvantage tokens from pieces on their team. Passive: While this card is active, pieces cannot gain or spend Dis/Advantage tokens.
Death / Morality	Immediate: When this card becomes active, the player with fewer slain pieces must slay one of their own pieces. If players are tied for the amount of slain pieces they have, instead they each put 1 Disadvantage token on an enemy piece of their choosing, starting with the player that made this card active.
Temperance	Immediate: Starting with the player that makes this card active, each player chooses a piece of theirs that has any kind of token on it, if possible. They may remove 1 of those tokens. If they do, all enemies lose 1 of those tokens as well.
The Devil	Passive: While this card is active, if a player would Activate a piece, Curse it at the start of their Activation.
The Tower / House of God / House of the Devil	Immediate: When the current Re/Activation is finished, all pieces count as having Activated this turn.
The Star / Desolation	Immediate: When the current Re/Activation is finished, no piece counts as having Activated yet this turn.
The Moon / Water	Passive: While this card is active, when players make a roll for a piece of theirs against an enemy piece’s roll, they may choose one of the following: To give their piece’s roll Disadvantage; if that roll happens at Disadvantage and is successful… To give their piece’s roll Advantage; if that roll happens at Advantage and is unsuccessful… …their piece does not count as having Activated yet this turn.
The Sun / Fire	Passive: While this card is active, if a player would Activate a piece, Bless it at the start of their Activation.
Judgement / The Fires	Passive: While this card is active, rolls cannot be made at Advantage and pieces cannot spend Advantage tokens.
The World / Earth	Immediate: When this card becomes active, each player may choose to  redeploy all of their pieces. If they do, remove all Curses and Disadvantage tokens from those pieces. If both players choose to redeploy all their pieces, they alternate redeploying each one.

Ready to play

Having read through these rules, you are now ready to play a game with a friend. If you would like to read through the factions available to play, you can find them here.

If you feel any part of the rules need better explanation or would like to discuss them with members of the community, you can find our discussions on Patreon here.

Enjoy!