Chess · with tricks up your sleeve
Real chess, plus three secret stratagems each — Hannibal's Alps crossing, the Trojan Horse, Scipio's counter-intelligence. Every card is a real trick from military history. Know all twelve; never know which three your enemy holds.
Know the whole pool — that is the game
Both players draft three in secret. Since everyone knows all twelve, every hanging piece might be a trap and every long march might be walking into an ambush. The fear does the work even when the card was never drafted.
Before the battle
Rome's discipline
You command
Hands
Expansions — any combination works; all off = pure chess
Draft — in secret
0 / 3 chosen
🤝
No peeking at the other hand.
After the battle — the reveal
Checkmate!
Both hands, and every trap — sprung or still waiting. Rome learned from Cannae between battles. So do we.
Make sure only White is looking at the screen.
Traps spring on their own while armed. Played cards are public.
Choose its new rank.