Break the Rules. Win Anyway.
Chess, but you build your own army
Start with normal pieces. Lose. Earn coins. Buy modifier cards that give your pieces new movement abilities. Stack enough upgrades and your army becomes unstoppable.
Put +Knight on a Rook and it becomes a Chancellor. Put +Rook on a Bishop and you have a second Queen. The AI plays normal chess. You don't. That's the whole game.