Goal

Defeat the enemy leader or wipe out the enemy army. Light begins on the left side of the board. Dark begins on the right side. Each turn, one unit moves. If it enters a square occupied by an enemy, the game switches into a live battle arena.

Controls

• Board: Click a piece, or use arrow keys to move the cursor and Enter to select or move. Press Escape to cancel selection.
• Battle: Move with WASD. Attack with arrow keys. Press Space to cast if the unit is a spellcaster, or attack in its current facing direction if it is not.
• Gamepad: Left stick moves. A attacks in facing direction. Push the right stick strongly to fire in that direction.

Board Rules

• Ground units move orthogonally and cannot pass through other units.
• Flying units move orthogonally or diagonally and ignore intervening units on the board.
• Teleport leaders can blink up to 3 squares in any direction.
• You may move to an empty square or attack an enemy by moving onto its square.

Square Types

• Light squares favor the Light faction in battle.
• Dark squares favor the Dark faction in battle.
• Cycle squares shift allegiance over time with the board cycle.
• Power points are highlighted in gold. Units holding them recover from battle damage faster, and holding all five wins the match. In the original game they also protected icons from magic spells, but board-level magic is not implemented in this build yet.

Battle Rules

• When units clash, combat becomes real-time.
• Move with WASD. Attack with arrow keys. Press Space to cast if the unit is a spellcaster, or attack in the current facing direction if it is not.
• There is no battle timer in this build. A battle ends only when one fighter is defeated.
• Ranged units fire projectiles. Melee units must get close. Aura units damage nearby enemies. Special units may leave trails or copy an opponent's style.

Terrain In Battle

• Trees and rocks block walking units and also stop projectiles.
• Ponds slow walking units to about two-thirds speed, but do not block shots.
• Flying units ignore those terrain penalties and pass over them freely.

Reading the Pieces

Select a unit on the board to inspect it in the left panel. That panel shows the unit name, movement type, battle style, and special ability without covering the board.

Difficulty

• Easy makes the CPU slower and sloppier in battle.
• Normal is the intended starter setting.
• Hard still avoids outright cheating, but reacts faster and aims better.

Prototype Notes

• Gamepad support for board selection is planned but not fully reliable in the preview right now.
• Board-level strategy spells are still planned work, but battle spellcasting is active for spellcaster units.
• The CPU visibly selects and moves on the board before battle, because instant smash-cuts were looking cheap.