Zonewreck 2023

Zonewreck is a a combinatorial abstract strategy war game for two players, played on a chessboard and special pieces. The goal of the game is to wreck the enemy zone. Players begin with 140 points and all pieces in reserve. Players take turns, starting with White.

Each turn, players optionally perform these two actions:

You may add the piece with the smallest P from reserve to an empty position in your zone, if possible. Pieces start off-board with a power level (P). When placed in the zone, the player gives the piece at most 4*P stat points, distributed among these categories: Attack (A), Health (H), Speed (S), Distance (D). Subtract these points from reserve.

Then you may move a piece in a straight line, up to D empty spaces. Movement must go towards your opponent, for non-attacking moves. If the destination is an empty space outside the enemy zone, the turn ends. Otherwise, if the destination is an empty space in the enemy zone, the piece attacks the enemy player (subtract A points from enemy reserve), and the turn ends. A piece already in the enemy zone may attack without moving. Finally, if, instead the destination is attacking an enemy piece, the two pieces begin mortal combat, and the turn ends once a piece dies.

During mortal combat, the pieces alternate attacking each other. Highest S starts, active player starts if tied. Each attack deals damage equal to A and is subtracted from the H stat permanently. If H reaches 0, the piece dies. H is never regained, even after battle.

If a player has 0 left in reserve, they lose the game. There are no draws, ties, luck, randomness, or hidden information in Zone wreck.

—description from the designer