Caltrops - Overboard!

Forum Overview :: Overboard!

by Mischief Maker 02/04/2025, 7:57pm PST

Brilliant little chess-alike where the rules change every game.

2 martial arts schools are battling for supremacy. On a 5x5 board each side gets one master piece flanked by 4 students. Move one of your pieces onto an enemy piece to capture them chess-style. Capture the opposite side's master, or move your master to sit on the other master's stool to win.

The twist is the moves available to you change every round. At the start of each game you draw 5 random cards that indicate possible moves. Each side gets 2 cards, and the fifth card is set to the side. When you move a piece, the card you used is switched with the card at the side of the board. So throughout the game you and your opponent are juggling and passing possible moves between each other.

The result is a chess game that skips the memorized openings and gets straight to the midgame tactics, while staying accessible to beginners. And with the random cards different games can have radically different flavors. We had one game with 4 orthogonal movement cards, and one Monkey card that allowed diagonal moves and we were fighting tooth and nail the whole game for control of that card.

The packaging is absolutely beautiful folding shut with a magnetic clasp. The pieces have weighted bottoms. The "board" is mouse mat material. The only complaint with the game is the expansion with extra move cards is kinda expensive for just 16 cards, because it comes in a similarly fancy box.

If you like chess at all, and especially if you want to play chess with a beginner and still be challenged, it's an easy recommend.