Castle-Mate

This is much more interesting and less random that I had predicted by looking at the cards. On your turn you move OR draw, so drawing serves to unlock the game when there are no particularly good moves and as a calculated risk when your position is pretty safe. Bad draws are usually not fatal and simply harm your tempo, so plan accordingly with when you draw. Unlike Knightmare chess, the reason to hold off on playing a card is not to save the card but because you may prefer the sure thing of a regular move.

That said, there are some random swings that can happen. The are less often then I'd expected, and they don't ruin the game, and they don't stop the game from feeling like chess, but they can still be a bit unsatisfying when they happen. Prudence greatly reduces luck, but a string of bad luck is simply boring.

I also found this a good game to play with my 7 year old. Mostly you are still thinking about chess strategy, but when you don't have any strategic direction you can draw a card and shake things up. It still teaches good chess skills but it keeps the mid game interesting and gets the game into interesting positions to reason about.