Lethal Check Mate 2020

リーサルチェックメイト (Lethal Check Mate) is a Chess-style game from Japan that uses cards to move and attack. The game board is only 3x4 and each player has only a single pawn on the board. It is the specialised cards that let a player either move or attack with their pawn.

Played cards build up, so a player might play a Centaur card to attack the column ahead, and then play a Rook card to move a pawn sideways, which now combines with the attack to do damage to the opponent. Each attack does one damage to the opponent, and players start with 3 Hit Points (HP). Each loss also increases the player's hand size, from 3 cards to 4 to 5 cards. The first to zero is the loser.

However, a player can opt to lose a hit point in order to deal as much damage as their hand allows. Hence the game being lethal. A player can even be on 1 HP and still do a lethal attack to win.

The board also rotates. When a player advances a piece to the opponent's back row, the board turns 180 degrees. The cards remain in play, so by the board changing position, the opponent's attack might suddenly be useless, or the player's pawn might now have a valid attack.

The game comes with the 3x4 chequer board, 4 pawns (one to play and one to score for each player), and a deck of 11 cards each, one for scoring your HP, one player aid listing the card powers, and nine cards to play. user summary