Bastide is a zero‑luck strategy duel where each player commands arrow‑marked pieces. The board starts empty, a 10×10 grid, and walls appear as the game progresses, permanently altering the terrain. Each piece has a role: the king moves one square forward, the queen and prince move like the king, the noble moves forward or laterally leaving a wall, the knight jumps in an L shape, the paladin moves forward and diagonally, the guardian only diagonally, and the villager moves one square forward. When two adjacent pieces merge, they evolve into a new piece, choosing the position and orientation between the two farthest options. This evolution creates Paladin, Knight, Guardian, Queen, or Prince depending on the combinations. On your turn you can place a villager on an empty edge square (excluding the edge that already has the opponent’s king) or move a piece within its range, which equals the number of pieces in its “group” (connected cluster). If the path crosses a wall, the piece stops on the first free square after the wall. Capture occurs when you finish on a square occupied by the enemy; the enemy piece is swapped. When a king is captured, the player may turn a prince into a new king if one exists; otherwise they lose. The game ends when a king is captured without a successor, or when a player chooses to move their own king off the board. Bastide blends tactical positioning, evolution planning, and strategic wall creation, demanding you anticipate your opponent’s moves and manage space like a true boardmaster.