So I started with a few simple changes. First, a hexagonal grid instead of a square grid. This allows for the orientation of the pieces to change depending on player choice, increasing the playspace from a binary up/down orientation to one that utilizes eight degrees of orientation instead of chess’ two. It also allows for more pawn maneuverability, which in turn leads to the playspace itself feeling “larger”.

Next, I introduced “classes” for the pieces; light units, medium units, and heavy units. Each class had tradeoffs - light units moved the furthest, but had the smallest attack spaces, heavy units moved the least but had the largest attack spaces, and medium units are balance of the two. Each set up of the game compromises of the players picking one light unit, two medium units and one heavy unit. With the number of units I developed (3 light, 5 medium and 3 heavy), there are 180 possible starting combinations of units!

Finally, I changed the timing of when pawns attack. Instead of maneuvering pawns into each other like chess, I wanted to introduce “attacks of opportunity”, in keeping with my theme of the pawns participating in a tourney with their specialized weaponry. So now, pawns have a certain amount of health depending on their class, and take damage when they enter or exit an opposing pawn’s area of attack. This leads to much more nuanced decision-making for players, where they need to balance the need for position for future attacks versus the need to keep their pawns alive (first player to lose all their pawns loses).