After defining the board, the Throne, and the basic idea of the warband, the next step was simple in theory and difficult in practice:
let the pieces move.
This is the point where design stops being only symbolic. A piece may have a good name, a strong role, and a clear place inside the warband, but the real test begins when it enters the board. Does it create useful pressure? Does it overlap too much with another piece? Does it make the game more readable, or only more complicated?
The current prototype is built around a simple principle:
one action, one turn.
A player chooses one figure, makes one move, one capture, or one shot, and then the consequences are passed to the next side. This keeps the rhythm clear, especially because the board is meant to support more than a two-player duel. In games with three, four, or six sides, even one small move may create an opening for someone else.
So the figures cannot be too complicated individually.
The complexity should come from the board, the center, and the interaction between roles.
The board needs pressure, but also air
One of the first balance questions was density.
The warband cannot be too large, because the board needs space. If too many figures appear too early, the game stops being about positioning and becomes a traffic jam. Lines close before they become meaningful. The Throne becomes crowded before players have time to create plans.
But the warband also cannot be too small or too uniform.
If every piece solves the same problem, the game becomes flat. A real group — whether we think about it as a warband, an army, or a small society — does not work as a collection of identical functions. Someone leads. Someone protects. Someone fights in contact. Someone controls distance. Someone raids. Someone creates the exceptional moment of breakthrough.
That became the central design question:
not how many pieces can fit on the board, but how many different roles the board can support without losing clarity.
The current set is built around that spectrum.
The Knyaz — the claim
The Knyaz is the most important figure, but not the strongest fighter.
That distinction is important. If the leader were also the most powerful unit, the game would become too direct. The player would simply push the strongest piece toward the center and try to force victory through combat.
Instead, the Knyaz moves slowly: one hex in any of the six directions. He can capture adjacent enemies, but he has no special attack, no jump, no ranged power.
His strength is positional and symbolic.
Only the Knyaz can claim the Throne. When he enters the center, the game does not end immediately. The claim has to survive. The opposing players get time to react, attack, block, or use the chaos for their own advantage.
This makes the Throne less like a finish line and more like a public declaration.
Reaching the center is not the end.
It is the beginning of danger.
The Footman / Shield-Bearer — the body
The Footman is the simplest figure, but that does not make him unimportant.
He moves one hex in any direction and captures adjacent enemies. His rules are easy to understand. His value comes from placement.
The Shield-Bearer holds space, blocks lines, protects more important figures, and gives the warband its body. He does not create an invisible aura of control. Enemies can stand next to him. His defense is physical: he occupies a hex, blocks a line, and shields what stands behind him.
This became especially important in relation to the Archer.
A ranged figure can easily become too powerful if nothing answers it. The Shield-Bearer gives the game that answer. He cannot be removed by a distant shot, and he can protect figures behind him.
That means the weakest-looking piece creates one of the most important defensive structures in the game.
The Warrior — contact
The Warrior is the main contact fighter.
He moves up to two hexes along a legal path and can turn during that movement. This makes him useful in the crowded middle of the board, where straight lines are often blocked and small changes of direction matter.
He does not jump.
He does not shoot.
He does not have a special rule for the Throne.
His strength is reliability.
The Warrior is the piece that contests space directly. He removes threats, supports the Knyaz, fights in the center, and adapts to local pressure. In early balance thinking, this kind of figure can easily become too good, because flexibility is useful almost everywhere.
So the goal is not to make the Warrior weak. The goal is to make sure he is not universal.
He should be good in contact, but he should not replace the Skirmisher’s line pressure, the Archer’s distance, the Shield-Bearer’s protection, or the Banner’s breakthrough.
The Skirmisher / Harrier — the line
The Skirmisher exists because the Warrior should not be the only aggressive piece.
Where the Warrior is flexible, the Skirmisher is directional. He moves up to two hexes in a straight line. He cannot turn during the move, but he can jump over a piece on the first hex of the line and land beyond it, if the final hex is legal.
This gives him a different tempo.
He is not made for slow central wrestling. He is made for sudden pressure, punishing bad alignment, and breaking through a screen. He can capture at distance one or two, but only along the line of movement.
The difference is simple:
The Warrior bends.
The Skirmisher cuts through.
That contrast is one of the key balance relationships in the set. The two pieces may both be combat figures, but they ask different questions.
The Warrior asks: how do I fight in the crowd?
The Skirmisher asks: where is the line I can exploit?
The Archer / Marksman — distance
The Archer is the figure that makes empty space dangerous.
Without ranged pressure, most threats are local. You mainly fear what stands next to you or what can reach you in the next move. The Archer changes that. A clear line across the board becomes a threat even before anything moves into contact.
In the current rules, the Archer moves one hex, but his main strength is the shot. He can shoot in a straight line at a distance of two or three hexes. The shot does not move the Archer; the target is removed, and the Archer stays where he is.
This is powerful, so it needs limits.
The Archer cannot shoot through any occupied hex. Any piece blocks the line. He also cannot shoot a Shield-Bearer from distance. If a Shield-Bearer stands in the line, he protects himself and anything behind him.
There is also a close-combat restriction: if an enemy stands adjacent to the Archer, the Archer cannot ignore that enemy and shoot somewhere else. He must deal with the immediate threat.
That rule matters because it prevents the Archer from becoming detached from the rest of the game. He controls lines, but he is not safe by default. He needs protection. He needs positioning. He needs distance.
The Archer should feel dangerous, but conditional.
A good Archer position makes the opponent uncomfortable.
A bad Archer position becomes a liability.
The Banner / Chorągiew — controlled breakthrough
The Banner is the most exceptional figure in the warband.
It is not meant to be common. Its role is not to fight like a Warrior or simply raid like a Skirmisher. The Banner exists to create a controlled moment of breakthrough.
In the current prototype, its special value comes from planned movement and landing. It can move farther than ordinary pieces, but the important part is how its capture works. A Banner attack is not only about removing an enemy figure. It is also about where the Banner ends after the action.
That makes it tactical rather than merely strong.
A capture may be good because it removes a threat.
It may be better because it lands the Banner in a protected position.
It may be decisive because it opens the path for the Knyaz.
It may be bad if the landing leaves the Banner exposed.
This is why the Banner has to remain limited. If many figures could attack and reposition with this level of control, the whole board would become unstable. Defensive lines would collapse too easily.
The Banner should feel like a rare instrument.
Not the army.
Not the ruler.
The moment of breakthrough.
Why the pieces need each other
The balance of the game does not come from making every figure equally strong in the same way.
It comes from making each figure necessary for a different reason.
The Knyaz gives the game its objective.
The Shield-Bearer protects and blocks.
The Warrior fights in contact.
The Skirmisher creates linear pressure.
The Archer controls distance.
The Banner creates breakthrough.
This is also why the movement rules are intentionally simple. Most figures have one clear movement idea. The depth should not come from memorizing exceptions. It should come from combining roles.
A Shield-Bearer in the right place can make an Archer useless.
An Archer in the right place can freeze a careless formation.
A Warrior can clean the center, but not jump through a line.
A Skirmisher can jump through a line, but cannot turn.
A Banner can create a dramatic opening, but cannot be everywhere.
A Knyaz can win the game, but only if the others make survival possible.
The interface as a soft tutorial
The prototype already helps teach these relationships visually.
Movement, captures, shots, range previews, blocked targets, landing fields, and threatened hexes are not only interface features. They are part of the design process. They show whether a rule is readable.
Some rules sound complicated in text but become clear when highlighted on the board.
For example, the Archer’s blocked shot against a Shield-Bearer is easier to understand when the player sees the target marked as visible but illegal. The Banner’s landing rule is easier to understand when the possible landing fields appear after selecting the target.
This is the kind of tutorial I prefer: not a separate lesson, but a board that explains itself while being played.
What the first playable version suggests
At this stage, the game feels most promising when each figure keeps its own identity.
The pieces do not need to be overloaded. The board already creates pressure through geometry, the Throne, player count, and turn order. If the roles are clear, the rules can remain relatively clean.
The current balance is not final. It still needs more testing, especially across different numbers of players and against different styles of play. But the direction feels right:
protect the Knyaz,
respect the Archer’s lines,
use Shield-Bearers to block,
send Warriors into contact,
look for Skirmisher lines,
save the Banner for the right moment,
and remember that the Throne is not won by reaching it, but by surviving there.
That is where the game begins to move.