The Anarchy

They filled the whole land with castles [...] when the castles were built they filled them with devils and wicked men. [...] When the wretched people had no more to give, they plundered and burnt all the villages [...] the land was ruined by such doings; and men said openly that Christ and His saints slept. -The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

In 1120 a fateful shipwreck drowned William Ætheling, heir to the throne of England. Over fifteen years, King Henry laid the groundwork for his daughter Matilda’s succession. But when the king died in 1135, his nephew Stephen raced to London and seized the crown. Four more years have passed: Stephen has consolidated power while Matilda has built an invasion force in Normandy and fomented rebellion in the southwest. The stage is set for a decade of valiant deeds and dramatic betrayals, a prolonged and capricious struggle for the rule of England.

In The Anarchy two players revisit the 12th century civil war that plagued the Kingdom of England through a chess motif that models shifting loyalties and strategic circumstances. Players represent the sides of Stephen and Matilda, each supported by a set of knights and bishops. Pawns (English levies and foreign mercenaries) are recruited to raid and battle, and castles pop up all over the map, presenting opportunities to protect key strongholds or tempting an opponent as worthy siege targets. As the years wear on, and leaders are called to court, deployed to fight, and defect through capture or simple exhaustion, each side must strive to meet its own unique objectives to secure their claim to the throne of England.