Chess tower defense: Fortress

A tower defense game where you already know how the towers work. Pawns cover the squares around them, knights hit their jump squares, bishops fire down the diagonals and rooks along the rank. Hold your King against the horde, or send the horde to a friend.

Play it now, freeAgainst a bot or online with friends. No download, no account.

How it plays

1. Build. Tap any grass square to put a piece there. It fires by itself.
2. Hold. The horde walks the road in waves. Anything that reaches your King costs lives.
3. Spend. Kills and waves pay gold, and gold buys more pieces and upgrades.

The details

The towers

A pawn hits all round itself, a knight lands on its knight squares, a bishop lances a diagonal, a rook fires a shell along its rank or file, and a queen lances all eight lines. Each has two upgrades, then a choice of two powers.

The horde

Zombies, goblin raiders, ghosts and golems, with a Cyclops boss every fifth wave.

Abilities

Lightning, Freeze and Rally recharge under the board for when things go wrong.

Solo

The Book has levels to survive, with stars for the lives you keep.

Versus

Two fields side by side and the same waves on the same clock. Send creeps to theirs for gold, which raises your income. The first King to run out of lives loses.

Like this? Try these

• Chess siege: storm a castleStorm the castle, then defend it.
• Real-time chess: Crown ClashReal time: drop pieces, strike their towers.
• Rock, paper, scissors with towers: Crown DuelRock, paper, scissors with towers.
• Vault Raid: break their vault with chess movesSmash their vault before they smash yours.
• Shard Rush: a chess treasure grabGrab shards. Hold ten for three turns.
• Chess heist: Express HeistCrack a strongbox on a moving train.