A
chess variant. Knightmare Chess is a set of cards sold by
Steve Jackson Games; there is also a Knightmare Chess 2 set that contains completely different cards. Knightmare Chess is not a
collectible card game (
CCG); each set contains one of each card. Knightmare Chess is an
Americanized version of the
French game
TempĂȘte sur l'Echiquier, published by
Ludodelire, though the cards and
artwork are different.
Game Setup: You must have a
chess set (
board and
pieces) to play; one is not included with the cards. The game may be played using a
common deck, where both players draw from the same deck (useful if there's only one set), or with personal decks. For personal decks, each card has a point value, and decks are made for a specific total. In addition, some cards are marked as unique, and are only allowed to be in a deck once.
Playing The Game: Each player
draws five cards. The game is played as normal
chess, except on each turn, you may play a single card from your hand (some cards are played before your move, some after your move, some instead of your move, and some after your opponent's move. This is specified in the
card text). Most cards are
one shot; they take effect and are done, but some are continuing effects, and stay around. With the exception of the rules below, the
card text has all the information required to play it. Some examples:
At the end of the turn, players
draw back up to five.
To keep the game balanced, some rules are in place so that the
King is not easily
captured by the whim of the card:
Opinion: Games of Knightmare Chess tend to be chaotic affairs; a player with a large lead can still be brought down by a well placed
fireball, and the well-planned
checkmate can be averted by any number of cards. This keeps the game exciting, compared to regular
chess, where a significant lead usually
snowballs. On the other hand, the cards are not especially
balanced. In
common deck games, it may come down to a matter of luck as one player draws powerful cards and the other one draws weak cards. Using
personal decks removes this problem, as each player can design their own deck, but this leads to overpowered decks, where half of the
pieces on the
board are decimated in the first three moves. Still, it's quite enjoyable and definitely a change of pace; in my experience, removing three or four of the
instadeath cards helps matters tremendously.
And now, for your reading enjoyment, is a transcript of a Knightmare Log
steel cage death match, from
Steve Jackson Games' website. My explanatory comments in parenthesis. Note that this transcript contains no less than four
checkmates.
Knightmare Chess
Steel Cage Death Match Log
White 1 -- played "Onslaught" (all
pawns may move forward) -- moved
pawns a7-a6, b7-b6, c7-c6, d7-d6,
e7-e6, f7-f6, g7-g6 and h7-h6.
Black 1 --
pawn d2-d4, played "Challenge," named
Rook (opponent must move the named
piece or forfeit their turn).
White 2 --
rook h8-h7.
Black 2 --
pawn h2-h4, played "Dungeon," moved
rook a8-h8 (the selected
piece is moved to an empty corner of the board and may not move next turn).
White 3 --
pawn g7-g5.
Black 3 --
pawn h4-h5, played "Fortification," created barrier between
g7/g8 and h7/h8 (a continuing effect;
pieces cannot cross the two lines that have been fortified, unless they can jump like a
knight).
White 4 --
pawn g5-g4.
Black 4 -- played "Squaring the Circle," moved
rook a1-a8 (if three corners are occupied, may move any
piece to the fourth).
White 5 --
knight b8-d7.
Black 5 --
queen e1-c3.
White 6 -- played "Holy War," moved
knight d7-c8 and
bishop c8-d7 (switch position of a
knight and a
bishop).
Black 6 --
pawn e2-e4.
White 7 -- played "Dark Mirror,"
pawn g4-h5, taking
pawn (a
pawn may
capture by moving backwards diagonally).
Black 7 --
knight g1-f3.
White 8 --
pawn c6-c5.
Black 8 --
bishop f1-a6, taking
pawn. White played "Revenge," removed black
pawn a2 (played when a
piece is
captured; one of the opponent's
pawns is also
captured).
White 9 --
queen e8-g6, played "Earthquake," turned board 90 degrees
clockwise, promoted
pawns at h5 and h6 to
queens (a continuing effect; turns the board ninety degrees without changing the direction pieces move. Any
pawn that is now on the new last
rank promotes).
Black 9 --
rook h1-h5, taking
queen.
White 10 -- played "Betrayal," converted
pawn at b2 from black to white (replace an opponent's
pawn on your half of the board with one of your
captured pawns).
Then
queen h6-c1, taking
bishop,
check.
Black 10 --
king d1-e2.
White 11 --
pawn b2-c3, taking
queen.
Black 11 -- Played "Charge!",
knight f3-e5-g6, taking
queen (a
knight who does not
capture may move again).
White 12 --
rook h7-h5, taking
rook; played "Siege," swapping
rook h8-g8
and
knight g8-h8 (swap position of a
rook and a
knight).
Black 12 --
bishop a6-c8, taking
knight; played "Anathema," swapping white
rook g8-d7 and white
bishop d7-g8 (swap position of an opponent's
rook and
bishop).
White 13 --
queen c1-c2, taking
pawn.
Check.
Black 13 --
king e2-f3, played "Forbidden City," creating dead spot at c7 (a continuing effect; no
piece may move into or through the named square).
White 14 -- played "Bombard,"
rook d7-d4, taking
pawn (
rook may move over one obstruction, and still
capture).
Black 14 -- played "Passing in the Night," swapped black
pawn f2-b6 and
white
pawn b6-f2 (swap the position of one of your
pawns with one of your opponents); then
pawn b6-a6,
promoted to
queen.
White 15 --
rook h5-h3.
Check.
Black 15 --
king f3-f4, played "Peace Talks," (removes a continuing effect card from play) cancelling "Earthquake"
effects, restoring board to proper orientation.
White 16 --
queen c2-e4, taking
pawn.
Checkmate.
Black 16 --
knight b1-a3, played "Coup."
King at f4 is now "Prince" (a continuing effect; moves
like
king, but not the target of
checkmate),
knight at a3 is new "King"
(still moves like
knight, but must be
checkmated for opponent to win).
White 17 -- played "Ghostwalk," bishop f8-b4 (the
piece may pass through other
pieces, but may not
capture).
Check.
Black 17 --
knight/
king a3-b5.
White 18 --
pawn f2-f1,
promoted to
queen.
Check.
Black 18 --
knight/
king b5-a7.
White 19 --
queen e4-a8, taking
rook.
Checkmate. Black played "Think
Again!" (opponent must take back their move and make another one), forcing white to make a different move.
Queen f1-a6, taking
queen.
Check.
Black 19 --
bishop c8-b7, played "Rebirth," (return a
piece to a square it could have occupied at the beginning of the game) moved white
queen a6-e8.
Check.
White 20 --
queen e4-g6, taking
knight; played "Figure Dance," moving black
rook a8-a1 and white
knight h8-a8 (all
pieces in the corners move counter-clockwise to the next corner).
Black 20 --
bishop b7-a8, taking
knight; played "Cathedral," (swap position of a bishop and a rook) swapping
bishop a8-a1 and
rook a1-a8.
Check. White played "Hostage," (when a
piece is captured, replace one of your
pawns with the just
captured piece) returning
captured
knight to e6, losing
pawn instead.
White 21 --
king d8-e7.
Black 21 --
rook a8-e8, taking
queen.
Check.
White 22 --
queen g6-e8, taking
rook.
Black 22 --
pawn g2-h3, taking
rook.
White 23 --
queen e8-a8.
Check. Black played "Knightmare!", (opponent must take back the move and make a different one) forcing White
to take move back and make a different move.
Rook d4-f4, taking prince.
Black 23 -- played "Riposte!", (when a
piece is
captured, replace it on the board and remove the
capturing piece instead. Lose a turn.) removing white
rook at f4 from board and
putting black prince in its place.
White 24 --
queen e8-a8.
Check.
Black 24 --
knight/
king a7-b5.
White 25 --
knight e6-d4.
Checkmate.
Black 25 -- prince f4-e5. Played "Fireball," (move a piece without capturing; that piece and all adjacent pieces are
captured) destroying prince, white
knight at d4 and white
pawns at d6 and f6.
White 26 --
queen a8-a5.
Checkmate.
Black has no response. GAME OVER!