It’s time! Over the past few months, we’ve shared behind-the-scenes looks at how we combined classic chess mechanics with a card-battling twist, teased our approach to sustainability, and showcased some of our prototype artwork. Now, at last, we’re thrilled to share the full rules of Sylvan Tactics with you. This post will give a quick overview of the gameplay experience and then direct you to our newly released rules document and a fresh gallery of card previews.

A Quick Introduction to the Rules

Sylvan Tactics uses a standard chess board and pieces, but every piece is represented by a card that bestows additional stats and abilities. You’ll still see Knights moving in L-shapes, Bishops sweeping diagonally, and Rooks charging in straight lines, but each piece has a distinct power set defined by the card you assign to it.

Resource Management with Sigils

In addition to moving and attacking with your units, you’ll manage resources called Sigils to power up your card-driven abilities. Sigils work almost like a “mana” system in other card games, except they come straight from your hand - any card can become a Sigil. Use them carefully, because the number of actions and plays you can make each turn depends on how many Sigils you can pay.

Units and Combat

Pawns: The backbone of your army. Pawns can advance steadily, just like chess, and even promote to powerful Mercenary units if they reach the far side of the board.
Mercenaries: These are your specialized pieces (Rook, Bishop, Knight) with unique cards that govern their stats and skills.
Queen & King: Each retains their iconic chess movement, but their health system adds a new layer of strategy. Especially the King, whose defeat means you lose the game.

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Combat is straightforward but tactical: if your attacker’s Strength is at least as high as the defender’s, the defender is defeated. Otherwise, the defender becomes “wounded,” which sets them up for a finishing blow in the next attack.

Card-Battling Meets Board Control

While positioning on the board is crucial (just like in chess), you also have to consider card synergy, Sigil costs, and surprise plays. Will you spend Sigils on big, game-changing Mercenaries, or swarm with cheaper Pawns? Should you gamble on drawing a powerful card from the deck, or pick a known (but possibly less exciting) option from the face-up draft row? The interplay of these decisions keeps the tension high and the outcome uncertain in the best possible way.

Explore the Full Rules Document

Ready to dig in? We’ve made our full rules accessible in an online document that we’re also opening to community comments. We’d love to hear your feedback:

Sylvan Tactics Rules

Whether you’re curious about the finer points of placing your units, the exact mechanics behind Mercenary partnerships, or how morale damage works, this document covers it all. It’s a living rulebook, so if something isn’t crystal-clear, feel free to leave a comment. We’re excited to continue refining Sylvan Tactics with the help of our early followers and playtesters.

Browse Our New Card Preview Gallery

We’ve also put together a new online gallery of all the card designs we’ve shared on social media so far. This is your chance to get a closer look at the anthropomorphic woodland creatures and the game-changing abilities they possess:

Sylvan Tactics Card Previews

Expect even more reveals in the weeks ahead, including more card art and abilities every week. We hope these previews spark your imagination for the strategic possibilities at play and give you additional context to help understand the rules document.

What’s Next?

1. Crowdfunding Launch
It’s going to be a while before we are ready, but the end goal here will be to get you a finished copy of the game. Follow us on our journey!

2. Playtest Opportunities
We’ll be hosting online and in-person playtests. Follow us on social media or join our Discord so you don’t miss your chance to try Sylvan Tactics before it launches.

3. Community Feedback
The Sylvan Tactics community has been instrumental in shaping the game so far. If you have questions, comments, or brilliant ideas, share them in the rules document comments, on Discord, or via social media.

Join the Conversation

Instagram: @randomseedgames
Discord: discord.gg/MRtPNFZuyt
Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/randomseedgames.com

We can’t wait to see your armies take shape on the board as you experiment with different strategies, combos, and card synergies. Thank you for coming along on this journey with us. Dive into the new rulebook and card gallery, and let us know what you think!

We've been hard at work refining Sylvan Tactics over the past few months. One of our most recent developments has been creating a digital version of the game on Tabletopia for virtual playtesting. This has been an eye-opening experience that has fundamentally changed our development process, and today I want to share some insights about the differences between physical and digital playtesting.

Why We Chose Tabletopia

After exploring several virtual tabletop platforms, we settled on Tabletopia for a few key reasons:

Completely free for our needs

Already includes chess boards and chess pieces as standard components
No need for a paid game setup or custom 3D component designs at this stage

Accessibility for playtesters

Works directly in a browser with a simple URL link
Playtesters don't need to create accounts—they can simply enter a guest username when joining a game room

Functionality that fits our game

The interface is intuitive enough for our playtesters to learn quickly
Custom zones and component snapping features support our unique mechanics like the Sigil system

While platforms like Tabletop Simulator offer more extensive scripting capabilities, we found that Tabletopia's simpler approach was actually better suited for Sylvan Tactics. The game's hybrid nature—combining chess pieces with card mechanics—fits neatly within Tabletopia's component system without requiring complex automation.

The current iteration of *Sylvan Tactics* in digital form.

Physical vs. Digital: The Unexpected Tradeoffs

What We Gained from Digital Testing

After a couple of weeks of virtual playtesting, we've noticed several significant advantages:

Geographic flexibility

We've run tests with players who are separated by large distances who would never have been able to join a physical session
This has diversified our feedback and helped identify blind spots in our design

Iteration speed

Card updates that previously required printing, cutting, and sleeving can now be implemented in minutes
We can test small changes immediately rather than batching them for the next physical prototype

Scheduling convenience

Virtual sessions are easier to set up and require less commitment from playtesters
We can run more frequent, shorter sessions that focus on specific mechanics

Systematic feedback

Screen recording during sessions helps us revisit exactly what happened during crucial moments
Playtesters can easily take screenshots to highlight issues or interesting situations

What We Miss from Physical Testing

Despite these advantages, digital playtesting doesn't completely replace the physical experience:

Tactile feedback is missing

The satisfying feel of moving a chess piece to capture an opponent's unit
The physical act of rotating cards to invoke them

Social dynamics are different

Table talk is more constrained in a digital environment
Body language and emotional reactions are harder to read

Interface limitations

Some actions that are intuitive in physical play require additional clicks or menus
Players sometimes struggle with the physics system when performing simple actions like stacking cards

Making Digital Playtesting Work: Our Tabletopia Setup

To overcome some of the limitations of digital playtesting, we've developed several techniques specific to Tabletopia:

Magnetic Maps: The Secret Weapon

The component snapping and rotating features with Magnetic Maps have been essential. While technically you could play the entire game without them, relying on physics and mouse controls would make the experience frustratingly fiddly.

This was especially important for our “invoke” mechanic. In the physical game, you turn cards sideways to indicate being invoked. Without a Magnetic Map, players would need to use the right-click menu and select the 90-degree rotate option—a tedious process for an action performed multiple times per turn.

Our solution was to create invoking zones for each card slot, positioned just above the card and marked with a rotated card outline. When players drag a card into these zones, it automatically rotates sideways. We've also set magnetic zones to automatically flip cards face up or down for our Sigil creation mechanic and draft row. All of this is done with image files and requires no coding at all.

Here’s what a Magnetic Map file looks like.

Tabletopia Tips from Our Experience

If you're considering using Tabletopia for your own game, here are some practical tips we've learned:

For free game setups, use multiple smaller game boards

Image resolution limitations make larger boards difficult to read
We initially made this mistake, and while our board is functional, it doesn't look great
We plan to split it into sections for better visual clarity in future iterations

Create custom reference cards for digital-specific controls

We added cards explaining how to perform common actions
This significantly reduced the learning curve for new playtesters

Use color-coding for magnetic zones when possible

Subtle visual cues help players understand where components should go
This reduces the need for lengthy explanations about the interface

Set up your pieces to minimize scrolling

Arrange your game board and player areas to fit comfortably on a standard screen
Excessive scrolling creates friction that doesn't exist in physical play

Tabletopia Limitations We've Encountered

No platform is perfect, and we've hit a few frustrating limitations with Tabletopia:

Updating card backs is tedious

While you can create an entire deck with the same card back initially, updating that back later requires changing each card individually
With our ~100 card deck, this was extremely time-consuming

Limited component placement tools in the editor

There's no grid snapping or alignment tools
Our workaround was to make a temporary magnetic map just to place components in the editor, lock them, and then remove the map

Physics glitches can disrupt play

Occasionally cards or pieces will behave unexpectedly
We've had to design our magnetic maps to minimize these issues

The Hybrid Approach: Getting the Best of Both Worlds

Rather than choosing between physical and digital playtesting, we've found that a hybrid approach offers the greatest benefits:

Start physical, move digital

Initial concept testing works best in person where you can be certain that the core mechanics are viable in a physical setting
Once the core system is stable, move to digital to refine balance and test edge cases

Use digital for quantity, physical for quality

Digital tests can give you more data points across more players
Physical tests provide deeper insights into player engagement and emotional response

Alternate between environments

Digital testing might reveal an issue that's best addressed with hands-on physical testing
Physical observations can inform how you structure your digital implementation

Join Our Playtesting Community

We're continuing to refine Sylvan Tactics through both physical and digital playtesting, and we'd love for you to be part of that process. If you're interested in participating in our Tabletopia sessions, join our Discord server where we announce upcoming playtesting opportunities.

The game has evolved significantly thanks to player feedback, and every test brings us closer to the perfect balance of depth and accessibility we're aiming for.

Have you participated in digital playtesting for other games? What was your experience like? Let us know in the comments, or join the conversation on Bluesky or Instagram!

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Sylvan Tactics: Official Rules Reveal and Card Gallery Preview