Chainmail

From the publisher's website:-

There are lots of battle games out now that use cards, but you’ve never seen, "A Men at Arms” Series and its initial offering, CHAINMAIL.

The game uses cards, one deck for each player (whose cards are somewhat different from those of the other player) to drive the game. Each player gets a certain number of cards each turn - often a different number for each player! - but never his full deck. The cards are used to determine movement, combat, and actions such as Missile Fire, Knights Charge, Counter-Attack, and Chivalry Charge, among others. Players may play as many of their cards up to 5 when it’s their turn, using each card for only one of the possible three purposes. Play passes back and forth between players, until both players have used all their cards… and the turn is over.

CHAINMAIL is thus a game of card play and management, which unfolds on the historical battle map - it uses squares, rather than hexes – with the use of some beautiful, super-size counters. This is a game of position, feint, and sudden attack with what you hope are better odds (since you don’t know what cards your opponent will play, if any, and you never know what his final strength will be). No dice are used. And there are no CRT’s.

When do you play your cards? How many do you play? What do you do with them? Will you be caught short and be subject to a sudden attack by your opponent?

CHAINMAIL includes four of the major battles of the Medieval period: Legnano (1176), Bouvines (1214), Lewes (1264), and Bannockburn (1314).

Game comes with a double sided mapsheet, beautiful full color counters, full color rules, and cards.

Playing time for each battle is about 2 hours, sometimes less, and the rules are only 8 pages! Balance is excellent, and because of the use of cards and their random distribution each turn, no game is the same as any other. And the game is playable solitaire (with specific rules for doing so)!