Mentis is a breath of fresh air for classical abstract game players, deep and challenging.
The game is played by two players on a 7x7 board, with each players’ tiles lining up to face each other from opposite sides. However, the tiles start in the players’ hands, not on the board, so how they are deployed is part of the opening strategy and beyond. The aim is to capture the opponent's King. Your King is a fragile piece, unable to move from his hill on your side of the board, sending out his forces of Spears, Trenchmen and Nobles to fight and defend across the board. The ruleset is quick to learn. How those rules are unleashed is down to your strategy.
Key mechanics employed are :-
- pieces capture without moving,
- multiple pieces can move together in "stacks",
- pieces are deployed from the players' hands, rather than assuming starting positions on the board.
