Leaders

Leaders is a two-player abstract game with either side’s characters having distinct special powers. The goal is to overcome your opponents’ leader: either by pinning them against the edge of the board, or simply having two of your own characters standing beside them at the end of your turn.

The board is placed between both players with, initially, just the two leaders on it. During the first few turns of the game, players can draft new characters to their side of the board – the standees have a black side and whites side, so simply turn your colour to face you – and can also move each character, or activate its special ability. The leaders themselves have no ability, but all the recruited characters do, and the fact each one is unique is what give the game huge variability in how it plays. The Illusionist, for example, can swap places with an opponent character. The Protector prevents special moves on its leader. The Nemesis can only move when an opponent leader moves, but it can move two spaces instead of the default one, and so on.

The game as a whole feels chess-like, in that it’s essentially an abstract game: a battle of wits across a geometric board. But the various powers push it into a more puzzly place, a little more tactical and often, a lot faster: if you’re not careful the game can be over in just a few turns. Otherwise, once both sides have finished recruiting, turns continue as before but just using the movement and special abilities of your pieces, until someone has won.