A chess-inspired turn-based game for two, centered about mafia family conflict. 

You start off with your Boss, an Armored Car, and an army of good-fer-nothin' Associates. On your turn, you can move and attack with your units, or decide to promote one of your Associates to a Soldato, Bomber, Capo, Hitman, or Armored Car.

Take care, this is a favor-for-a-favor world. Promotions cost Favors (which are shared between players), and whenever a unit is promoted, their "twin" on the other side gets the same promotion!.. That is, if that other guy hasn't been clipped already. Capiche?

Concept originally envisioned at Create Jam Fall 2025. Original submission can be found here. Made using Pico-8.

Uses the Vector.p8 v2.3.1 (10-09-2025) library made by ThaCuber.

Controls

• Arrow keys to move cursor and navigate menus.
• X to select units and choose/confirm actions. 
• Z to cancel actions.

Gamepad-controls will be similar, but your exact button layout may vary.

How to play

This is a 2 player tactics game, where the goal is to protect your Boss, while eliminating the opposing Boss. Players will take turns picking units to Act or Promote to accomplish this goal.

Each player starts off with a Boss, an Armored Car, and an army of promotable Associates.  Both players share a pool of 20 Favors, a resource used to Promote units. 

There's a catch though:

• Promoting an Associate ends the turn, thus foregoing the chance to Act.
• The corresponding unit on the opposing side is also promoted... If still alive!
• Consequence: the promoting player gets to change unit composition, but their opponent gets the first chance to exploit it!

When you promote an Associate, they can become a Soldato, Bomber, Capo, Hitman, or Armored Car. Each have different costs, movement, attack patterns, hit points, and power.

When a unit Acts, they get to first move, then attack, as their patterns permit. Most units (Boss, Soldato, Capo, Hitman) can hit a single target at a time, while a few (Bomber, Armored Car) can hit multiple. A unit must move in order to attack; If a unit is prevented from moving (ie. no valid spaces), it also cannot attack.

Units take damage when they are hit by an attack, and are eliminated from the game once their hit points reaches zero. The damage received corresponds to the power of the attacker.

Unit descriptions

Boss

• 3 HP, 1 Power. Must be protected at all costs.
• Can move 1 tile in any direction.
• Can attack an enemy adjecent to in any direction

Associate

• 1 HP, 0 Power. Can be promoted.
• Can move 2 tiles forward.
• Can't attack

Soldato

• 1 HP, 1 Power. Promotion is free.
• Can move 1 tile in any direction.
• Can attack an enemy on one of the three tiles in front of it
  • "in front of it" meaning in the direction of the opposing player

Bomber

• 1 HP, 2 Power. Promotion costs 2 favor.
• Can move 1 tile in any direction.
• Can attack all units in a plus pattern in front of it. Hits both friends and foes!

Capo

• 2 HP, 1 Power. Promotion costs 3 favor.
• Can move up to 2 tiles in a straight line in any direction.
• Can attack an enemy that lies up to 2 tiles away in a straight line in any direction, but not through units

Hitman

• 2 HP, 2 Power. Promotion costs 3 favor.
• Can move up to 3 tiles in a straight line in cardinal directions.
• Can attack an enemy that lies up to 3 tiles away in a straight line in cardinal directions, but not through units

Armored Car

• 5 HP, 1 Power. Promotion costs 5 favor.
• Can move any number of tiles in a straight line in any direction
• Attacks all perpendicular adjecent enemies that it passes by during movement
• When moving horizontally, enemies above and below the line of movement are hit
• When moving vertically, enemies left and right of the line of movement are hit
• When moving diagonally, adjecent enemies along the line of movement on the "opposing diagonal" are hit

Strategies

• Postponing promoting an Associate until their counterpart is removed from play leaves only you with an upgraded unit.
• It can be worth rushing an Associate two spaces ahead before promoting; Soldatos and Bombers can't move as far ahead in one turn.
• A unit that can't move, can't attack. As such, it is possible to trap (or kidnap) an enemy unit by blocking it from moving. Associates and Hitmen are the most vulnerable to this.
• On offence, a well-positioned Armored Car can remove a large number of 1hp units, and help secure killing an already wounded Boss. On defence, they are efficient blokers that take several hits to take down.