and the gauntlet of crowns
v1.4 · works fully offline · online PvP needs internet once installed
One run at a time. The Board remembers only your current Gauntlet.
Select your Gauntlet
Both Players assemble their armies in secret. CRIMSON drafts first and moves first in Battle. GOLD — look away from the screen now, and no peeking until the device is passed to you. GOLD drafts second, and is able to scout one CRIMSON unit before building their army.
Two armies war upon a 7×7 board, each sworn to a Royal — yours, or theirs. Every Battle is a fight to the death: slay the enemy Royal before yours falls. There is no check and no checkmate — only the kill. One other road leads to victory. Complete a Control Post on the enemy's Home Row, and the Hallowed Board unmakes their Royal on the spot.
On your first turn, before anything else, place your King on any Home Row tile, then two Depots beside him — all free of charge. Units may march into the enemy's Home Row, but Structures may never be raised there — with one ancient exception: a Control Post (see Structures).
The enemy always moves first. In the Gauntlet your foe opens every Battle; in Player vs AI and Player vs Player, Crimson opens. You — the Gold side — move second and hold a one-time +1 AP token in compensation. Your Royal grants 3 AP each turn. Each Depot generates +1 Supply at the start of your turn — with your two starting Depots you begin Round 1 with 3 Supply. Three Control Tiles lie across the center rows, one per row. A completed Control Post on one grants +1 AP every turn. (In the Gauntlet their positions are sealed when the run begins; retrying a Battle replays the same field.) Deploying costs 1 AP + the unit's Supply cost, on your Home Row; the unit arrives exhausted. At most 20 Supply of units and structures may stand afield. In the Gauntlet only, two War Chests wait on the field from the first turn, in the enemy's half just before their Home Row — one holds exactly 10 Gold, the other a Tome of Insight, and this is the only way to earn that Battle's Tome. Only you may claim them, by moving any unit onto the chest; the enemy may stand on a chest but will never steal it. Spoils are paid out with the victory — fall, and the Board takes them back.
Activating a unit costs 1 AP: move up to its Speed, then one attack — or one Active ability in place of the attack. Ability-only is still just 1 AP. Damage = Attack − Armor (minimum 1). Units and structures block ranged lines and movement alike. The Battle Log of the current Battle is in the Menu.
♚ King — 20 HP · 2 Atk · 1 Armor · 1 Speed · free. Touch attacks. Fortify (active): +2 Armor until your next turn. Inspire (active, touch): cure an ally of all afflictions and grant +1 Speed & +1 Attack this turn. Research: Banner of War (King and adjacent allies +1 Attack) or Royal Summons (active — recall any allied unit to a tile beside the King).
♟ Pawn — 2 HP · 1 Atk · 0 Armor · 1 Speed · 1 Supply. Touch attacks. From its Home Row, its first stride runs Speed+1 tiles straight ahead on a clear path. Build: the Pawn becomes the structure. Repair (touch): +2 HP to a structure. Research: Detonate (active — the Pawn explodes: 2 damage ignoring Armor to every unit in Touch range, friend or foe; the Pawn dies) or Battle Fury (active — pay 1 HP for +1 Attack & +1 Speed this turn, without replacing the attack).
♞ Knight — 4 HP · 2 Atk · 1 Armor · 1 Speed · 2 Supply. Touch attacks. Charge (active): leap in a chess-knight L along a clear route — one step orthogonal then one diagonal, or one diagonal then one orthogonal; if either path is open, the Charge is on. Whoever stands at the landing is struck and battered one tile aside (structures can't be shoved). Research: Extra Attack (each attack strikes twice — second blow may pick a new target) or Flame Blade (attacks also Burn).
☾ Rogue — 3 HP · 2 Atk · 0 Armor · 1 Speed · 2 Supply. Dagger at Touch; with any bonus Range (Watchtower, Empower) it also shoots down clear orthogonal lanes. Poison (active, touch): afflict a unit with Poison. Research: Hide (active — become Hidden until you strike or are detected) or Shadowstep (active — teleport a Knight's leap away, over anything, then you may cut one adjacent foe for 2).
♝ Bishop — 3 HP · 1 Atk · 0 Armor · 1 Speed · 3 Supply. Ranged: clear diagonals up to 3. Heal (active, touch): +2 HP to an ally. Cure (active, touch): cleanse all afflictions. Research: Blessed Reach (Heal works along diagonals up to 4) or Panacea (Cure mends two adjacent allies at once).
✶ Mage — 3 HP · 3 Atk · 0 Armor · 1 Speed · 3 Supply. Ranged: clear diagonals up to 3. Standing adjacent to a hidden foe reveals it. Zap (active, attack range): Shock a unit senseless. Research: Empower (active — ally gains +2 Damage, +2 Armor, or +2 Range until end of your next turn) or Hex (active — foe suffers −2 of the same until end of your next turn).
♜ Rook — 5 HP · 2 Atk · 1 Armor · 2 Speed · 4 Supply. Ranged: clear orthogonal lanes up to 5. Siege (active): plant the war-castle (shown as ♖). Sieged, it cannot move but shells any tile 2–7 down its lanes: its blast ignores Armor — Attack+1 damage at the center tile, Attack damage to the eight tiles around it, friend or foe. Unsieging takes its turn. Research: Rolling Bastion (crawl 1 tile while sieged) or Clockwork Gears (siege/unsiege no longer consumes the turn).
♛ Queen — 7 HP · 3 Atk · 0 Armor · 3 Speed · 5 Supply. Ranged: every clear line, up to 6. Freeze (active, touch): 3 damage and Frozen. Invisibility (active): vanish until you strike or are detected. Research: Chain Lightning (active — 3 damage and Shock to every unit down one full line) or Fireball (active — 3×3 blast on her lines: 3 damage and Burn to all).
In the Gauntlet, each enemy army is led by a Royal — an elite, crown-marked champion of their signature unit with 20+ HP, both of that unit's Researches, and a signature trick of their own. Slay their Royal, or Control their Home Row, to win the Battle — and their soldiers may rally to your flag. Royal blood is not required. By the oldest law of the Hallowed Board, the first soul to set foot on a Home Row is crowned a Royal. It is how a Pawnborn commoner stands in this arena at all — and why a claim completed on the enemy's Home Row unmakes their crown.
Pawns Build (the Pawn becomes the structure) and Repair (+2 HP, touch). Scrapping your own structure costs 1 AP and frees the tile. Structures cannot be shoved by a Knight's Charge.
▤ Depot (5 HP, free, max 4) — +1 Supply per turn. Armory: Emergency Rations (scrap for +3 Supply). Research: Quick Deploy (deploy to the open tile directly below the Depot).
⚑ Control Post (8 HP, free, on a Control Tile — or on any tile of the enemy's Home Row) — +1 AP per turn. Takes 2 turns to build: the construction site stands at 2 HP, does nothing, and must survive the enemy's turn; other Pawns may Repair it (+2 each, to 8); at the start of your next turn it completes at full 8 HP. Every other structure finishes instantly. A Control Post completed on the enemy's Home Row wins the Battle outright — the Hallowed Board unmakes their Royal. Armory: Enchanted Stone (self-repairs +1/turn). Research: Medical Center (+1 HP to allied units in Touch range at turn start).
⛫ Watchtower (5 HP, free, max 2) — for 1 AP shoots a foe within 2 tiles for 1 damage; +2 Range to adjacent ranged allies; reveals hidden foes within 2. Armory: Farseer Lens (shot & gaze reach 3). Research: Flaming Bolts (shots Burn).
▣ Bunker (8 HP, free, max 2) — for 1 AP strikes an adjacent foe for 1 damage; adjacent allies gain +1 Armor. Armory: Garrison (adjacent allies also +1 Attack). Research: Magnetic Field — enemies cannot target your units standing in Touch range of the Bunker with attacks or direct-target abilities; splash and area damage still land, and the Bunker itself may still be struck (a Knight's Charge targets the tile, so it too still lands).
⚡ Shocked — cannot move or attack next turn; abilities still work.
❄ Frozen — cannot move, attack, or use abilities next turn.
🔥 Burned — 2 damage at the start of your next 2 turns; re-burning adds +2 to the next tick.
☠ Poisoned — 1, then 2, then 3 damage over your next 3 turns; re-poisoning adds +2 to the next tick.
Affliction damage ignores Armor. The Bishop's Cure and the King's Inspire cleanse all four.
A Rogue with Hide or a Queen using Invisibility cannot be seen or targeted. Moving never reveals them — but attacking or using any Active ability does, as do a Watchtower's gaze and a Mage standing adjacent. Hidden pieces still block ground: if you move, Charge, or Shadowstep into one you'll be told something unseen blocks the path — at no AP cost — but the board itself will never hint at where they lurk.
Outside the Gauntlet, both sides assemble armies in a secret Draft: your King plus 5 of the 7 unit types, 100 Gold of Armory upgrades (structure perks 30 each), and 8 Tomes of Research (one per unit; structures 2 Tomes, at most 2 structures). Crimson drafts first and moves first; Gold drafts second, receives a scout report on one Crimson unit, and holds the +1 AP token. In Player vs Player, pass the device between drafts and look away while the other side builds — secrecy is the whole game.
Eleven Battles. One dead King's throne. And you — a Pawnborn, the commoner the oldest clause lets into the arena. After the Pawnlord, you choose your next foe among the Royals. Each wields a unit you lack; slay them, and their army marches under your banner forever. Facing the Steel Prince pledges you Bunkers. Facing the Shadow Princess pledges Watchtowers. Either gift is yours from that Battle on, win or lose. Every foe's treasury is a fixed sum, and the deeper foes out-spend even a perfect run. Their upgrades, Research, and war Style are sealed when your Gauntlet begins — the scout report never lies, and retrying a Battle changes nothing about the foe. Gold buys Armory upgrades (you begin with 10). Tomes of Insight buy Research: units choose one of two paths forever (1 Tome); structures cost 2 Tomes each, and at most 2 structures may ever be Researched. In RePawn, a fallen Pawnborn Royal is replaced by the next — same treasury, same foe. In Hardcore, one fallen Royal ends the run. Beat all eleven and the Crown is yours. Then, if you dare, comes Endless Mode: ever-crueler echoes, where one loss ends the run. After every Battle, listen for the whispers… the Gauntlet is far older than the Realm it crowns.
Play a drafted Battle against a friend over the internet. One of you creates a lobby and reads the 4-letter code aloud; the other joins with it. The joiner is CRIMSON and drafts & moves first; the host is GOLD, scouts one Crimson unit, and holds the +1 AP token.
Testing tools for the Gauntlet. They bend your King only — every other piece plays by the law.