I have the Instructions in the downloads area to print out. Here I will explain each area in more detail.
UPDATE: April 8th, 2009
From test play at the Supernationals IV we learned that Check and Checkmate ONLY apply when there are only 2 players left from a 3/4 player game. Until then Check and Checkmate have NO bearing in the game. You MUST CAPTURE THE KING TO REMOVE THE ARMY FROM THE BOARD. Once there are only 2 players left then Check and Checkmate APPLY!!!!
You play chess but with your style now. You control your army anyway you want. This means you place your pieces to your style. Have all your pawns up front to form a castle wall to protect your main pieces to move about... So be it!!! Or put your king in the Back Line with pawns surrounding him, so that anyone who wants your king must do a suicide run for him. (See King's Defense Strategy in the Pictures section-09 King's Defense.jpg).
You are player A here. Look at your front line. From behind here you have 18 spaces for your 16 pieces to put ANYWAY you want. Your Front line is located on the row of 6 squares. Behind it you have 3 rows of 4 squares each to place 8 Pawns, 2 Rooks, 2 Knights, 2 Bishops,1 Queen, 1 King.
Also note: You can use the center of the game as a standard chess board! 8 x 8 section in the middle. Very versatile game.
Once everyone is setup.
PLAY
"Whoever is Black starts. Each player takes a turn to either move or Capture with one of their pieces. After Black finishes its turn, that player will pass the token (included with the game) clockwise for the next player to begin their turn.
The object of the game is to conquer the other player(s) King, remove him and his army from the battlefield and continue until only one King and his army is left standing (Standard Guideline - see instructions for other options of play).
This game is to allow anyone to play. You don't need to be good at chess. Why? Because the minute you play this game you will see, pattern is hard to find and even harder to rely on.
Though a larger board, with the row and 6 and 3 rows of 4 makes the game more intimate and not such an open field as in Chess 4 (competitive game). With the larger board and add-on of a 3rd/4th player there are to many variables to allow pattern to take over the game. It is very hard to think 5 steps ahead when you have 2 other players thinking a different game than you. Just as in real-time battles the playing field constantly changes depending on who attacks who.
This alone helps level the playing field to a point.
The best part of this game is to allow 3 people to play. No more sitting around waiting for someone to lose to take their place. Above I show the board with 3 players showing (Players A, C and D) leaving section B (Player B - Not shown) open for all 3 players to utilize the space during gameplay for your own strategy. Maybe send a 3 person team (Rook, Bishop and Queen - aka "Hit Squad") out there to form an attack on the other players. You decide.
4 players allows you to play as individuals or teams!!
Team play really opens this game to new levels of enjoyment. By having teams, you can now talk openly or secretly about your next play. Your teammate can warn you of a bad play or show you a better move to help win the game. This will allows parents to team up with a child for family fun or have a battle of the sexes (Male vs Female) to see who is really smarter.
Added: 11-05-09
Pawns have a new twist. I couldn't let the pawns just go blindly forward as in Chess. And with a military background, I always thought of pawns as a unit. So with Conquer the Kings you now this ability to move your pawns like a squad of men.
The Movement Arrow - MA, allows you to now have some control and flexibility to move your pawns anywhere on the board, one direction at a time though. This Arrow (4 come with the game), represents the direction your pawns (squad) move at any given time during play. All your pawns will move in this direction and this direction only! Thus if you move some pawns forward and then decide to attack with them the front line of the player to your right. You would call for a Movement phase and change the direction of the to the right --->>>> that way. So now your pawns can move on that turn in the new direction.
Here is the catch to having this cool ability. On the same turn you change the direction of your MA, your pawns CANNOT attack on that turn. The Next turn they may. Notice: Your pawns are vulnerable from the rear, they are helpless to defend themselves and can easily be taken. Thus giving the player to the left easy targets to prey upon.
A note on Pawn Rescue. From the Official Guidelines with my comments...
Non-starting areas – or any area where a player is not starting, there is no Back Line for Pawn Rescue. Pretty straight forward, if no one starts in any area that area is open for all players and the Back line does not exist.
Standard Guideline: If a pawn makes it to the back line of any enemy’s front line, that play may exchange that pawn for any captured piece from any player. - this was vague and will update the official rules shortly. You can exchange for any piece of YOURS not someone else's. So You can't get a player's captured Queen if the best piece you can exchange of YOUR captured pieces is a bishop.
Optional Guideline: If a pawn makes it to the back line of any enemy’s front line, that play may exchange that pawn for any captured piece of from ONLY that player’s Bone Yard. - I added this to make it more challenging for those who wish to game to be so.
More to come....