Special Thanks to Joe Joyce, a moderator of www.chessvariants.org, for playtesting and discussions which resulted in several modifications including the "safety" move of the Highborn when promoting to Queen, the limitation of eight Workers on the field and basing the production phase on the number of Nurses.

Play occurs on a five-cell-sided hexagonal field. Each player begins with one Queen, two Highborns, two Drones, two Nurses, five Workers and three Soldiers.

Each cell occupied by a Worker denotes the potential of the Hive. Each Worker can support five units. During any turn, multiply the number of friendly Worker-occupied cells by five. This represents the number of the Hive. If the value of the pieces on the field is equal to or greater than this number, the player is unable to exercise the production phase of their turn.

Each turn players are allowed to introduce one new piece for each of their Nurses. Only Workers, Soldiers, Nurses and Drones are allowed to be introduced. Soldiers to any vacant cell adjacent any friendly piece. Workers, Drones and Nurses to vacant cells adjacent a friendly Nurse. There must be the necessary Workers and Nurse on the field to support them before the production phase. Only two Drones, two Nurses and eight Workers are allowed on the field. The number of Soldiers is only limited by the number of Workers and available cells on the field.

Workers, Soldiers, Nurses and Drones are equal to one unit each. Highborns are three units. Queens are six units.

Movement of Pieces:

The Queen[Q] may swap poisition with any friendly Highborn. This is its only form of movement. The Queen does not attack. Each player must have a Queen on the field at the end of their movement phase.

The Highborn[H] slides through vacant cells and can take any enemy-occupied cell on its last cell. A Highborn may be promoted to a Queen if its Queen has been captured and there is at least one Drone on the field. There must be the necessary friendly Workers on the field to support this promotion.

The Soldier[S] steps to enemy-occupied cell, or leaps orthogonal over friendly pieces to enemy-occupied cell.

Worker[W] steps to vacant cell.

Drone[D] leaps to any vacant cell.

Nurse[N] may swap position with any friendly piece except Highborn and Queen.

Player's turn:

1) Movement - mandatory
The player moves one piece, or promotes a Highborn. If unable to perform this phase, click the icon at the lower right.

2) Production (if Queen present) - optional
The player totals Workers times 5. This is the maximum value of friendly pieces allowed on the field. If it is greater, the player is allowed a new piece on the field for each Nurse. During this phase, click the icon at the lower right to pass the turn to the opponent.

The game is won when the opponent has no Queen at the end of their movement phase. Or if both players are unable to perform a turn, the victory is determined by total unit occupancy (This implementation will declare a draw at this point, players would need to perform their own calculation). Remember Queens count as six, Highborns as three and the remaining as one each. If only one player is unable to move, the other wins regardless of the status of the field.