Melee is a deterministic (zero luck), strategy board game of perfect information (no hidden pieces) played between two opponents on a grid-based battleground to capture an opposing Sovereign's Throne, Kill the opposing Sovereign, or gain the most tactical advantage before the game's conclusion.
2:1. Uniform Point-Grid: A battleground composed of evenly spaced, identical position markers (squares, nodes, or dots) that accommodate piece placement.
2:2. Game Pieces: Denoting Fighters (smallest), High Guards (mid-sized), and Sovereigns (largest).
2:3. Optional Timer: Shot Clock Timing Device for regulated competitive play.
3:1.A. Board is arranged in a diamond configuration, corner-to-corner relative to opposing players.
3:1.B. Game play begins from a narrow perspective, expands outward across center board, and targets the opposing corner.
3:2.A. Opposing corner zones are designated as Kingdoms; all starting pieces must deploy within their respective home Kingdom.
3:2.B. The absolute corner coordinate of each Kingdom is designated as the Throne.
3:4.A. The Sovereign occupies the Throne coordinate nearest to its controlling player. No other unit may ever finalize a move on a Throne coordinate.
3:4.B. High Guards deploy in direct contact with the Sovereign, with additional High Guards deploying in direct contact with other High Guards.
3:4.C. Fighters deploy in direct contact with High Guards, filling all remaining designated home Kingdom coordinates.
3:5.A. Regicide: Eliminate the opposing Sovereign.
3:5.B. Usurpation: Maneuver your Sovereign to occupy the opposing Sovereign's Throne.
3:5.C. Draw Resolution: In the event of an agreed draw, the winner is determined by the highest total active piece point value remaining (Fighters = 1 pt, High Guards = 3 pts). Sovereigns are not counted.
3:6. First Move: An equal game of chance decides who goes first (coin toss).
4:1. Orthogonal Movement: Fighters and High Guards move only in a Squared Fashion (orthogonal), strictly in 90-degree directions (forward, back, left, right). Diagonal moves are prohibited.
4:3.A. A single High Guard squarely connected to the Sovereign may move in unison with the Sovereign in a single move, provided both move from and land upon legal spaces.
5:1. Touch-Move Rule: Once a piece is touched, the player is committed to moving it. If an illegal move is attempted, the player gets one chance to place the touched piece on a legal position; if none exists, the piece returns and the turn is forfeited.
5:2. The WALL Hazard: The outer board border acts as a permanent 1-hit hazard. If an opposing unit strikes a piece pressed against the wall from the side opposite the wall, it creates 2 opposite hits and results in an instant kill.
6:1. Shield Formation: Two friendly pieces directly connected on 90-degree spaces are Reinforced, providing a temporary defensive shield.
6:2 – 6:4. Compromised Shield: A piece can only lend reinforcement if it is completely uncompromised. The moment a reinforcing unit becomes engaged by an opposing strike from any direction, its ability to support neighboring units is immediately severed.
Combat and tactical declarations must be audibly announced immediately:
A living unit is immediately killed and inverted into a dead terrain piece under the following conditions:
9:1. Wounding Scenarios: Unit attacked on 2 adjacent (L-shaped) sides unreinforced; attacked on 2 opposite sides while reinforced; or positioned against the wall and attacked on a single side unreinforced.
9:4. Defender's Tactical Options:
10:1. Standard Units: May never jump standard living units or friendly corpses. However, living units may pass through a Sovereign (friendly or enemy) or enemy corpses, provided the final landing space is open and valid.
10:2. Sovereign Jump: Sovereign cannot jump standard units, but may jump directly over an opposing Sovereign (2-space leap) if landing on an open space.
10:3. Throne: Only a Sovereign may finalize a move on a Throne space.
11:1. Outside its home Kingdom, a piece with no legal or safe move is Trapped.
11:3 – 11:4. Audible announcement required: "Trap 1", "Trap 2", "Trap 3". If trapped for three consecutive declared turns, the piece is killed.
12:1. No move or sequence may be repeated 3 times consecutively (no stall loops). The opponent must audibly declare repeats upon touchdown.
12:2.D. Upon a third declared repeat, a 2-turn trap sequence initiates.
Handicaps are established by mutual agreement by substituting High Guards for Fighters (or vice versa). Handicap matches yield no official rating advancement points.
1. Shot Clock: Standard pace is 30 seconds per turn; Blitz is 15 seconds. Hitting 0s immediately ends the turn.
2. Max Move Limit: Agreed before start (e.g., 30, 40, 50 moves). If uncompleted, winner is determined by Surviving Piece Proximity Tally:
All players start at Rating 500. Adjustments equal 10% of the rating spread (minimum flat adjustment of 10 points if spread < 10).
| Rating Range | Official Class | Title / Rank | Status & Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below 400 | Class H | Initiate | Entry-level / Learning mechanics |
| 400 – 449 | Class G | Apprentice | Developing board awareness |
| 450 – 499 | Class F | Contender | Approaching baseline competency |
| 500 – 549 | Class E | Challenger | Official Baseline / Proven Player |
| 550 – 599 | Class D | Veteran | Experienced tactician |
| 600 – 649 | Class C | Champion | Top-tier local competitor |
| 650 – 824 | Class B | Paragon / Apex | Master-level strategic excellence |
| 825 – 899 | Class A | High Marshal | Elite competitive authority |
| 900+ | Master Class | Overlord | Absolute board dominance |
• Diamond Corner-to-Corner Orientation: 45-degree rotation producing narrow-wide-narrow dynamic battlefields.
• Orthogonal Movement on Diamond Grid: Orthogonal 90° movement visually traces diagonal lines across the table.
• Throne Anchors: Corner victory hubs reserved exclusively for Sovereign occupation.
• Dual-Sided Inversion: Fallen pieces flip in place to become physical terrain modifiers rather than being removed.
• Asymmetric Corpse Physics: Shields/passable vectors for the conqueror; impassable blockers for the victim.
• Sovereign's Highway: Fast-travel vector allowing monarchs to traverse continuous enemy corpse chains.
• 3-Step Orthogonal Continuous Vector: 90° turns without retracing paths or leaping live units.
• Dual-Pace High Guards: Choice between 3-step sweeps or 1-step tactical crawls.
• Unison Escort: Synchronized 2-piece Sovereign + High Guard maneuvers.
• 3-Sided Siege vs 2-Sided Lateral: 3-sided attacks bypass all reinforcement shields.
• Severable Reinforcement: Attacking a supporting unit severs its defensive shield instantly.
• The Wall Hazard: Board edge functions as an active 1-hit hazard.
• Audible Auditing System: Real-time verbal declarations turn combat auditing into an active game mechanic.