Chaos Rift

A kingdom on the crossroads gets invaded by its greedy neighbours. On the brink of defeat, its wizards launch the final retaliation - they open a rift to the realms of chaos. Mighty demons with their servants swarm the land, turning it into waste. The invading kingdoms face an opponent they are not ready for. Regular armies are helpless against horrors of wraiths, turning people into possessed who fight against their own kind. Only elite units, heroes and battle mages dare to face the dark forces. The goal is to buy time for the archmages to prepare a spell that would close the rift. The help might come too late - if the destruction of the lands is too severe, people will abandon hope and wait defenceless for the doom.

Players - alone or in 2-player teams - take the role of chaos forces and the defending kingdoms. The chaos has the upper hand - they decide which kingdom will be invaded and with which forces. The defenders have to predict the attack directions and send their forces there. They are not completely blind - their scouts and clairvoyants can detect enemy’s movements. Chaos forces crave resources that are spread across the land - this also gives hints where they would like to strike. Some kingdoms are more vulnerable - or resistant - against some types of attacks, but the best strike is often the most obvious one. Both sides have to raise new armies - their starting forces need reinforcements as the units need rest after every battle. Both sides have also to deal with casualties that come with every war.

Chaos forces need resources taken from the lands to raise new armies and launch the attacks. As their domain gets bigger, the conquered sources of resources get depleted. Chaos armies can pillage the lands for additional resources but this comes at the cost of precious time.

This is where the game starts - chaos leaders have seven rounds of time to destroy the most vital parts of the kingdoms, so that any help from the archmages comes too late. They have to find a way to plan successful attacks deceiving the defenders. Defending players have to deduct chaos assaults and counter them. Wrong guess of direction gives an opportunity to fortify the borders against future attack. Wrong choice of the defending unit still slows the opponent down. Right unit at the right border will stop the invasion - at least once.

—description from the publisher