Battle Chess is, for all intents and purposes, Chess - with a twist. The traditional pieces have been replaced with actual figures. Instead of the pieces simply snapping across the game board to their chosen positions, they walk.
And instead of the pieces simply disappearing when captured, the figures actually duke it out in various animated fight scenes; perhaps the best part of the game.
The first time I played Battle Chess was on a Commodore 64. I was at my brother's friend's house, and I was watching it on the screen as they played. Eventually, I got a single turn, and decided I loved the game. We borrowed it, and eventually bought a copy.
Battle Chess also signified my first experience with manual-based copy protection. Oh pish, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You start the game, and you get:
Please enter the 7th word on page 32, paragraph 5 line 4 from the game's instruction manual:
It was annoying, but not much of a deterrant to make me hate the game. (The load times for the battle scenes on the C64 were significantly more annoying.)