An isometric tactics game for Mac and Windows
Chess moves. Real battles.
The pieces move much as they do in chess — but a blow wounds instead of capturing, and anyone who survives a melee strikes straight back.
How it plays
Moves you know. Fights you don't.
Chess moves, rebalanced.
Chess moves were designed for pieces that fall at the first touch. Here a fight lasts several blows, so we retuned a few of them until every unit earns its place on the board. Your chess instincts will carry you far — just not all the way.
Every blow leaves a mark.
A strike takes health, not the piece. Units fall only when they have nothing left to give — and anyone who survives a melee hits straight back. The wounded fight with whatever strength remains, so the first blow often decides it.
No dice. No surprises.
Pick up a unit and point at a target: before you commit, the panel tells you exactly how much damage the blow will do — and whether it kills. Strengths and weaknesses tip the scales, but no fight is ever hopeless.
Six units
Every piece has a job
Pikeman
Forward or sideways — never back
The line that holds. Pikemen press forward or sidestep, but never fall back — and any rider who charges them pays for it. Strong against cavalry, and the heaviest armour of any troop.
- Health
- 24
- Attack
- 26
- Armour
- 8
Archer
Shoots two or three squares, in any direction
Fires over the heads of other units without leaving its square, and shreds a pike block from range. Up close it's made of glass: little health, almost no armour — riders and rangers cut it down.
- Health
- 16
- Attack
- 28
- Armour
- 2
Ranger
Any distance, along the diagonals
Crosses the board in a single move and hits as hard as the queen — and hardest of all against her. But pikes stop it cold, and it wears almost no armour.
- Health
- 18
- Attack
- 34
- Armour
- 1
Cavalry
Leaps like a knight — and further
The toughest of the four troops, with a leap no battle line can block. It runs down archers and rangers — and it's the one unit a wall of pikes is built to stop.
- Health
- 30
- Attack
- 30
- Armour
- 6
Queen
Any distance, any direction
The most complete piece on the board: plenty of health, a blow as hard as any, heavy armour and no weak matchup of her own. Her one real threat is a ranger on an open diagonal.
- Health
- 30
- Attack
- 34
- Armour
- 9
King
One square, in any direction
The best-armoured unit on the board — and the only one that truly matters: if he falls, the battle is lost. He strikes back hard, but it should never come to that.
- Health
- 24
- Attack
- 30
- Armour
- 10
The campaign
Win gold. Buy cards. Climb.
Take on the computer, stage by stage. Every victory pays gold, and the shop turns it into cards that reshape your army — 69 in the deck, three in your hand.
Each stage is fought under a new world rule, drawn from 24, that changes how the battle plays. One defeat ends the run — and the higher you climb, the further ahead your opponent thinks.
Online
Two ways to take on real players
Matchmaking
Pairs you with an opponent who has climbed just as far. Win and you move up a round; lose and you start again from the bottom.
With friends
Open a room and share its five-character code — with a world rule and starting gold to spend on cards, if you like.
No account, no sign-up. If your connection drops, the game puts you straight back into the match — and your opponent waits a minute for you to return.
The details
Polished to the last pixel
- Pixel art on an isometric board that builds itself, tile by tile, before every battle
- Music and sound generated live — four classical pieces, synthesized straight from the score
- Play with mouse, keyboard or gamepad — or type squares: A 1 picks up a unit, A 2 moves it
- Fully translated into 14 languages
- The campaign saves after every move, clock included
- No ads, no account, no tracking
Common questions
Ready for battle?
On the Mac App Store for any Mac with macOS 10.15 or later, Apple silicon and Intel alike — and on Steam, for Windows and Mac.