Belle Prairie Games

Strategy · Chess variant

Conscription Chess

Draft your army in secret. Reveal at the first move.

  • In development
  • Android
  • iOS
  • Web
The Conscription Chess icon: a white pawn wearing a green helmet with a gold star.

What it is

Every game of chess starts from the same position. This one doesn’t.

Before a piece moves, each player is given a conscription budget of 39 points — a queen costs 9, a rook 5, a bishop or knight 3, a pawn 1. That is exactly what a traditional army is worth. The king is free, and compulsory.

You spend that budget however you like and place what you bought anywhere in your own first three ranks. Three knights and a wall of pawns, or two queens and almost nothing else, are both legal. So is the traditional army, which is one tap away if you want it.

Neither player sees what the other drafted. The armies stay hidden until the board is revealed and the first move is played — so the opening is not a line you memorised, it is a read on what your opponent thought was worth buying.

The reveal

  • A revealed board. Black has a traditional army along ranks seven and eight. White has two queens on d1 and d2, rooks on a1 and h1, knights on b1, g1 and e3, a single pawn on e2, and no bishops.
    Both armies cost 39 points. Black spent it the traditional way; White bought a second queen and gave up the bishops and most of the pawns to pay for it. Neither player saw the other’s answer until this moment.

Screens

  • The conscription screen. A budget bar reads 38 of 39, with a piece tray below showing the cost of each piece: queen 9, rook 5, bishop 3, knight 3, pawn 1.
    Conscription. Every piece has a price, and the bar shows what is left.
  • The Conscription Chess title screen, with Pass and Play and Play the Computer buttons.
    Pass & play on one device, or take on Stockfish.

In the game

  • A 39-point budget

    The exact value of a standard army, minus the king. Spend it on anything you like, at or under budget, one king, no two pieces on a square.

  • Your own three ranks

    Placement is free within your first three ranks. Where a piece starts is as much a decision as whether you bought it.

  • Two ways to win

    Traditional is standard chess victory: win by checkmate. Deathmatch lets kings be captured — you win by eliminating every enemy piece.

  • Drafted in secret

    Secrecy is enforced by the game, not by the honour system. You are told that your opponent has finished drafting, never what they drafted.

  • Pass & play, or the computer

    Hand the device back and forth for a local game, or play a Stockfish opponent — running natively on device and in WebAssembly in the browser.

  • Boards and pieces

    Three piece sets, six board themes and five interface themes, from Classic Green and Walnut through to High Contrast and Parchment.

Both armies have been conscripted in secret. Pass the device back to reveal the battlefield and begin play.

The handoff screen

Details

Genre
Chess variant
Players
Two, or vs. computer
Platforms
Android, iOS, Web
Status
In development
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