I am not a Chess aficionado, I am not even very good at the game. I understand the rules, but have a hard time predicting other people’s actions. This has been a difficulty for most of my life. Now that I have said that, I really enjoy the game as it has a very long History and hundreds of variations. (If you don’t believe me, just check www.chessvariants.com )

One variant I came across years ago was called “Tokar’s Arcana” made from a company called “White Mask Games” (Which seems to now be defunct). Tokar’s Arcana was chess, but it introduced the Idea of Customizable armies. Now I am not a big fan of Customizable armies because it extends the game out even longer than I like, but I Loved the idea of different armies competing. This led me to a variant called “World War Chess” which competes different national variants against each other.

So my Daughter and I sometimes play “Chess-War” (Our name.) In Chess-War we compete different armies, including the manufactured armies from Tokar’s Arcana. My daughter loves to play the Undead army. I tend to either play the Xiang-qi army (Chinese Chess), or the FIDE army (International Chess). I have made other armies to play over the years, and we sometimes play them.

It’s a lot of fun.

Chess war plays a lot like Chess. In Chess-War, each player choses an army. One Black, One White. It may often be played with Standard Chess Pieces, occasionally with a few extra pieces.

Each Army’s Document explains the starting position of all the pieces. White plays first, and may move only 1 piece each move. Most Armies win by capturing the opponents King (Or General piece)

If the 2 armies have significantly different boards, you must choose which board to use, and place the pieces accordingly. (For example the Chinese Chess pieces are placed on the intersections of the spaces, so to compete with a FIDE (International) Army, you either need a 8×9 board, or the FIDE army must be placed on the intersections, and moved appropriately.

Some Links for you.