Manual

Grand Gambit combines chess with a deck of historical units and stratagems. Move your pieces, hold resource squares, and spend those resources on cards that change the battle.

Your objective is to checkmate the opposing king. A position that would be checkmate in ordinary chess may still be escapable with a legal, affordable card effect. If a player has no legal way to continue and their king is not in check, the game is a stalemate.

Use ordinary chess movement and capture rules unless a card changes them. Read the full card text: a special ability can change how a unit moves, how much a card costs, or when an action is allowed.

• Include at least 40 cards.
• Include no more than four copies of a card with the same name, subject to the King and Queen limits.
• Include exactly one King card and normally at most one Queen card. Henry VIII is an explicit exception that permits additional Queens; follow the Deck Builder’s validation.

Your King determines your commander. Unit cards give pieces abilities; stratagems provide actions, attachments and lasting effects. The Deck Builder checks whether your deck is ready to play.

1. Choose a deck and colour. White moves first. In practice, also choose the computer’s difficulty and deck.
2. The standard board begins in the ordinary chess position: rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, rook along White’s first rank, with pawns on rank 2; Black mirrors this on ranks 8 and 7.
3. Your opening hand contains your King card and five other cards. The game supplies this hand automatically.
4. Begin with one available reserve slot, a normal unit cap of 16 and a normal resource cap of 15.

Play your King card onto your king to activate its abilities. Having the card in hand or displaying the commander’s portrait does not attach it automatically.

Opening timing: White begins at 0 resources without an extra opening draw. At the start of Black’s first turn, Black receives the normal +1 base resource but keeps the opening hand without an extra turn draw. From each player’s next turn onward, normal income and turn draws apply. Card effects can still draw cards during the opening turn.

1. Start the turn. Resolve turn effects and income, then the normal card draw. The opening-turn exceptions are described above. Complete any pending choices before continuing.
2. Prepare your position. Play affordable cards, attach units, prepare reserves or deploy ready reinforcements. There is no general one-card-per-turn limit.
3. Make your move. An ordinary chess move normally ends your turn. A card may change this timing or grant another action.

Deploying a ready reserve does not normally end your turn. You can continue with eligible card plays and deployments before making your chess move.

Some effects require a target, a discard, a response or a promotion choice. Complete the displayed prompt; selecting a card alone does not necessarily resolve its effect. During an opponent’s turn, use only the reaction prompts the game offers.

In a standard match, gain 1 base resource at the start of your turn, except White’s opening turn. Add income from occupied resource squares and any applicable unit or doctrine effects. Effects that suppress income can override these gains.

The board marks resource squares with 1, 2 or 3. A piece earns its square’s value when its controller’s turn begins. Moving onto a square does not immediately collect income; attacking or passing through it does not count.

Example: a piece on a3 supplies 1 and a piece on e4 supplies 3. With the base income, that is 5 resources before modifiers and your cap.

Your normal resource cap is 15. Vault of the Templars raises it to 20; duplicate copies do not stack. Excess resources are lost, and losing a cap-raising effect also reduces a balance above the new cap. Unspent resources carry over between turns.

Pay the current cost when playing a card or preparing a unit in a reserve slot. Discounts, taxes and other effects may change the printed cost. Resources are match currency; they are separate from Treasury Bonds.

Your normal hand limit is six cards. When you draw while full, the new card enters your hand first. Then choose a card to discard to History. You may keep the new card and discard an older one, or discard the new arrival.

If an effect puts you more than one card over the limit, continue choosing discards until your hand is legal. Complete any discard required by the card itself as well. An explicit ability, such as Granary’s hand-limit exception, can change the normal limit.

Change of Tactics draws two cards, then asks you which card to discard from your hand. The choice panel identifies the newly drawn cards and lets you inspect their effects before choosing.

An empty deck does not automatically reshuffle History, reset resources or end the match. An ordinary draw simply produces no card. Only an explicit commander or card effect can recycle History.

Attach a unit card

Play a unit card onto an eligible allied piece to give that piece the card’s abilities. Follow the card’s unit type and targeting requirements. Attaching a card does not add another chess piece to the board.

Prepare a unit in deployment

1. On your turn, choose an available deployment slot, place a unit card there face up, and pay its cost. King cards cannot be placed in deployment slots.
2. The unit becomes available on your next turn. It does not have to enter the board immediately; you may leave it ready in its slot.
3. On a later eligible turn, place the unit on an empty legal home square. Deployment does not end your turn. You may make further affordable card plays and eligible deployments, then end your turn by moving a chess piece.

You normally begin with one slot. Card effects can change the number of available slots, down to 0 or up to 3. If an occupied slot is disabled, send its card to History.

Your normal unit cap is 16 pieces on the board. You cannot bring a reserve onto the board if doing so would exceed your current cap. A card may change that cap.

Manoeuvres, Armaments, Sabotages, and Doctrines are collectively called stratagems.

History and lasting effects

History is the pile beside your deck for resolved or expired cards. A lasting effect remains active for the duration stated on its card. Follow an explicit instruction to return, recover, or move a card elsewhere.

When a piece with a unit card is captured or destroyed, its attached unit card goes to History, unless an explicit effect changes the destination. History is not a second hand: you need a recovery effect to use its cards again.

Doctrines do not stack with themselves. You may have different doctrines active together, but cannot activate a second copy of the same doctrine while yours is already active. Removed or consumed doctrines can make a replacement copy useful later.

Read the whole card

The title identifies the card; the subtitle identifies its type. The resource stamp shows its base play cost. The rules text explains its effect and conditions. The culture emblem identifies its historical theme; it does not by itself grant an ability. Rarity is shown by the rarity label and ink colour.

Assign first, then move

Yin & Yang: assign it to a bishop you control. For the rest of that turn, the bishop gains one-square horizontal and vertical moves in addition to its normal movement. Choose the bishop, then a legal destination on the board.

Unconventional Movement: assign it to a piece you control. For the rest of that turn, it also gains one-square moves in any direction to an empty square. This added movement cannot capture; the piece’s ordinary legal captures remain available.

These permissions do not bypass king safety or automatically grant another turn. Attaching the movement effect and choosing the move are separate actions.

Respond to Persuasion

The response prompt shows the announced move, including its origin and destination, before you decide. If Persuasion cancels it, the mover must choose a different legal move. Follow any resulting sacrifice or checkmate prompt if no alternative exists.

Promote a pawn

A pawn reaching the far rank normally prompts you to choose a Queen, Rook, Bishop or Knight. This applies to pawn units with attached cards too. The old pawn-unit attachment goes to History; its abilities do not carry over as an attachment to the promoted piece. Resolve the promotion choice to finish the move. Explicit promotion-blocking effects still apply.

When your king is in check, you must remove the threat before ending your turn. Move the king, capture the attacker or block the attack where legal. No move may leave your own king in check.

You can play eligible cards while in check. A preparatory effect, such as drawing cards, need not immediately remove check if it keeps your turn open. An action that ends your turn must leave your king safe. Costs, targets and other card restrictions still apply.

A ready reserve can block check only on a legal deployment square and within your unit cap. The game also considers supported card defences when deciding checkmate; having no ordinary chess escape is not always the end.

Feudal Summoning

An active Feudal Summoning can place a pawn on a legal square that blocks the checking line, even above the normal unit cap. This does not spend your chess move. After use, the doctrine goes to History. It cannot block a knight’s attack or solve a position where another checking threat remains.

The game offers the response when a legal block exists. If you close the prompt, you can reopen the effect from Feudal Summoning under Your Doctrines.

Trample: a unit cannot give check through an intervening pawn merely because it can trample that pawn.

Ending the match

Checkmate wins the match. Stalemate is a draw when the side to act is not in check and has no legal continuation under the game’s rules. A player can also resign. The result panel identifies the outcome and provides match statistics, board review and replay controls.

The five rarities are Common, Curio, Antique, Artefact, and Relic. They identify a card’s rarity, not its resource cost. Use the number on the resource stamp to find its cost.

The online edition uses grey for Common, blue for Curio, orange for Antique, red for Artefact, and purple for Relic. The printed manual instead describes Common as white and Curio as yellow.

The printed rarity guide associates Common with Pawns; Curio with Pawns, Bishops, and Knights; Antique with Rooks, Bishops, and Knights; Artefact with Queens; and Relic with Kings. Stratagems can appear at any rarity. Individual cards in the current catalog may differ from that original distribution.

Cultures distinguish the historical people and traditions represented by the artwork. Their symbols are visual identifiers. A culture-specific rule applies only when an effect explicitly says so.

• Commander panels: your portrait and the opponent’s portrait show colour, resources and unit totals. A player’s chosen title is separate from the historical commander’s name.
• Your hand: inspect a card to read its effects, then click or drag it to a legal target. For unit cards, eligible open reserve slots are highlighted as well as board targets.
• Board pieces: hover over a piece with an attached unit to inspect its card. Legal highlights help distinguish a valid destination from an occupied or otherwise forbidden square.
• Reserves: your slots appear beneath your commander; the opponent’s reserves appear in their panel. Select a ready unit and an eligible home square.
• Doctrines: each side has an active-doctrine area. Available triggered effects can be opened from their doctrine button.
• Turn strip: beneath the board, check the current turn, whose move it is and elapsed time.
• Deck, History and Last played: inspect the corresponding piles or recent card. Hidden opponent information remains hidden.
• Battle log and Turn ledger: review actions and turn changes. Unit abilities provides available activated abilities.
• Match and Settings: use the top controls for match actions and interaction preferences.

Choice panels show the action you are resolving. Inspect the cards and their effects, and check the ownership labels before choosing. A card belonging to the opponent is not automatically yours to keep.

No legal targets? Check the card’s required piece type, side, occupied or empty-square condition, active doctrines and king safety. A card cannot be played merely because you can afford it. If it is the opponent’s response or another decision is pending, finish that step first.

• Guided tutorial: learn the core actions step by step with Alexander against Xerxes. Follow the highlighted target and finish the requested action before advancing.
• Practice: play against the computer with your chosen deck, side and difficulty.
• Player versus player: play another person. Each player uses their own deck and public honours; private cards stay private unless an effect reveals them.
• Game Modes: find Endless Horde for survival, AI vs. AI for spectating, and Scenarios for focused challenges. Tiles marked Coming soon are not playable modes.

Scenario and campaign objectives can differ from standard checkmate. Read the briefing and victory conditions before applying the standard-match rules. Special modes can also replace normal deck draws, income or reinforcement timing.

Open Treasury → Titles & Accolades. The Accolades and My Titles tabs are at the top left.

Earn and display medals

Each achievement has its own military medal. Greater achievements have more elaborate decorations, ranging from Service Medals through Silver Decorations, Gold Honours and Orders of Merit to Grand Crosses. Read the achievement’s requirement and progress; a locked medal is not yet available to display.

Use Edit display to choose and order up to six earned medals. Achievement rewards are awarded once; the page shows the reward and your available balance. Treasury currency and unlocks are separate from resources earned during a match.

Compose your titles

In My Titles, choose an earned principal title, an optional ordinal, up to two additional honours, a territorial title and territory name, and an epithet. The preview shows your full ceremonial style. Save your titles when you are satisfied. Titles and medals are cosmetic; they do not improve combat strength.

View honours in a match

The commander header shows the player’s primary style. Select Honours to open their full titles and medal exhibition. Select a medal to read its achievement requirement and earned date. Both players have their own display in player-versus-player matches; the opponent’s exhibition is read-only.

Change your display in the Treasury page under Titles & Accolades. Matches use the honours saved when you join, so start a new match to see later changes. AI commanders do not inherit a human player’s titles or medals.

Epochs replaces the normal opening with a progression through six eras. It is a variant described in the source manual, not an online mode offered by this page.

1. Each player begins with two pawns and an Era 1 king, placed anywhere within their own first two ranks.
2. Divide each player’s campaign into six era stacks, with 10 cards appropriate to each era.
3. At the start of a turn, draw from an era stack you have unlocked.
4. At the end of your turn, you may pay to advance to the next era. Draw three cards from that era’s stack. You may put unit cards drawn this way into your reserves.
5. Choose a king from the new era. Use either the previous king’s effects or the new king’s effects; do not combine them.

The source does not define era card lists, how a new king is supplied, or how full reserves are handled when advancing. Agree on those details before playing this tabletop variant.

The printed manual lists two physical editions. These component lists describe those editions, not items needed to use the website.

Included in both kits

• This manual.
• Two standard booster packs, each containing 12 cards.
• Two playable decks, each containing 40 cards.
• Two twenty-sided spin-down dice: one black and one white.
• Four sets of tokens numbered 1–16: two black sets and two white sets.

Additional Royal kit components

• A chessboard on the reverse of the lid.
• A chess-piece booster box containing two unique models in black and white.
• A complete 32-piece chess set: 16 pieces per colour. Each side has eight pawns, two bishops, two knights, two rooks, one queen, and one king.

The Starter kit’s listed contents do not include a chessboard or a standard chess set.

Campaign / deck

The deck is your match draw pile. The printed rules sometimes call it a campaign; the online campaign mode instead means a sequence of missions. Epochs divides a tabletop deck into era stacks.

Deployment slot / reserve slot

A space beside the board that holds a unit card waiting to enter play.

Deployment zone / reserves

The area containing your deployment slots. Preparing a unit here and moving it onto the board are separate actions.

History

The pile for resolved, expired, or discarded cards unless an effect specifies a different destination.

Home ranks

The two ranks nearest a player: ranks 1–2 for White and 8–7 for Black. Non-pawn deployments normally use the back rank only.

Rank / file

A rank is a numbered horizontal row; a file is a lettered vertical column. A square such as e4 combines its file and rank.

Resource square / resource area

A marked board square that provides its value to the player occupying it at the start of that player’s turn.

Hand limit

Normally six cards. Draw first, then discard down to the limit when required.

Resource cap

The most match resources you can hold: normally 15, or 20 with Vault of the Templars.

Resources

The amount available to pay card costs and other effects. The resource counter tracks your current total.

Stratagem

A non-unit card such as a Manoeuvre, Armament, Sabotage, or Doctrine.

Unit

A chess piece on the board. A unit card supplies abilities or prepares a reinforcement.

Unit cap

The maximum number of pieces you may control on the board; normally 16.