Fantasy Chess Sets: The Best of 2024

From skeletons and dragons to hobbits, we found some pretty wild characters roaming the squares of these stunning fantasy chess sets.

Just ask any player and they’ll tell you that chess is a pretty fantastic game with its fierce knights, powerful bishops, and regal queens moving across the battlefield in a constant strategy against the enemy. This makes it the perfect game for themed playing sets – and specifically, fantasy chess sets. The traditional chess pieces can easily be swapped out for whatever characters suit your fancy and do battle on a board that can resemble any location imaginable.

That’s what you’ll find in our reviews of the best fantasy chess sets. Here, we have stunning fantasy chess pieces that run the gamut from dragons, skeletons, and ancient Egyptian figures to Frodo and the Lord of the Rings gang and Alice with all of her fantastical Wonderland characters. They face off against each other on beautiful fantasy chess boards that resemble battlefields, Middle Earth, and so much more.

These fantasy chess sets are more than just pleasing to look at; we’ve reviewed high-quality collector’s pieces that you’ll play with and enjoy for many years to come.

The Best Fantasy Chess Sets of 2024 (Page Summary):

The Best Fantasy Chess Sets of 2024:

1. Pewter & Glass Fantasy Chess Set (299$)

This is the ultimate 3D fantasy chess set that pits an army of the living against an army of the dead. The highly-detailed heavy pewter pieces depict a whole host of fantastic characters – from kings and dragons to warriors and their steeds. Each piece is rendered in a gold tone for its living form and a bronze form for the walking dead version. The chessmen in This 3D Fantasy Chess Set are crafted of pewter, making them heavy and truly nice to handle during play. The king is 3 inches high with a base width of 1.125 inches.

The chess board really takes this fantasy themed set into another dimension in a way that few other chess sets can, with a glass checkered playing field floating over a debris-strewn battlefield. The fantasy chess board sits between the two castles of the opposing armies. It measures 13.5L x 13.5W. Its squares measure 1.5 inches.

If you’re looking for a chess set for a fan of fantasy and magic and aren’t sure if it’s Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings they’re into, this is a chess set that’s sure to please them all.

2. The Lord of the Rings Collector’s Chess Set from Noble Collection

This stunning, high-end fantasy chess set offers players an opportunity to battle for the fate of Middle Earth on a chess board. It’s a truly impressive set with stunningly-crafted pieces that bear an amazing resemblance to the characters in the film. (This makes sense, as the design of each piece was personally approved by the actor who played that character.) In fact, each piece is so detailed that they can be considered as mini-sculptures.

Each chess piece in The LOTR Collector’s Chess Set is rendered in the finest pewter and measures between 2 and 3 inches in height. You’ll find characters such as Frodo, Gandalf, Galadriel, and Aragorn (set on bases with a green ring) facing off against villains such as Saruman, Ringwraiths, and Cave Trolls.

A proper 3D fantasy chess board should be a work of art in and of itself, and this Lord of the Rings chess board is no exception. It features a plexiglass playing field that floats over a base that’s made of cold cast porcelain. A map of Middle Earth is visible through the plexiglass board, while the base features images from the film. The base for this beautiful chess set measures 15 x 15 x 4.5 inches.

3. 21″ Deluxe Egyptian Chess Set with Storage Chess Board (264$)

This set takes on an entirely different theme than many of the other chess sets in our lineup. Rather than fantasy chess pieces that recreate a book or film, the fantasy chess pieces in this set take players back to a completely different era: that of the ancient Egyptians.

The finely-detailed gold and silver-colored pieces (rendered in pewter) represent various icons and figures from ancient Egyptian culture. You’ll find pharaohs, sacred cats and birds, as well as obelisks. The king chess piece measures 3 inches with a base width of 1 13/16 inches.

The gorgeous resin chess board is decorated with hieroglyphics all around. Four golden Sphinxes stand solemn guard at the corners of the board, which measures 22 square inches (with a square size of 1 5/8 inches).

When you have a beautiful and valuable chess board, one of the challenges you face is finding adequate storage for all of the pieces. The playing field can be removed, revealing a convenient place for you to safely store the chess pieces away until the next time you do battle on this elegant fantasy chess set.

4. Alice in Wonderland on Cherry Chess Set (158$)

One of the most classic fantasy tales ever penned, Alice in Wonderland has sparked readers’ imaginations for generations – making it the perfect theme for an elegant fantasy chess set. In This Alice in Wonderland Chess Set, you’ll find Alice, the King of Hearts, the White Knight, the White Rabbit, as well as Tweedle-Dee, Tweedle-Dum, the Walrus, and many more characters who are ready to take players down the rabbit hole and through the looking glass. Of course, you’ll find the Queen of Hearts guarded by an army of card soldiers with spears in hand. The king (the tallest piece) measures 3.25 inches and the pieces are made of carefully-painted resin.

The story plays out on a rather compact 13-inch playing surface that features bronze- and silver-colored squares that measure 1.5 inches each. It’s all set upon a gorgeous cherry-stained chest (measuring 15 inches square) that doubles as storage for your treasured chess pieces. It secures with antiqued clasps that are just as beautiful as they are functional.

For a fan of literature or a fan of high-end themed fantasy chess sets, this is an ideal choice to add to any collection.

Choosing a Fantasy Chess Set to Give as a Gift

Fantasy themed chess sets make wonderful and versatile gifts. Not only are the sure to please chess lovers; they’re also a thoughtful present for fans of fantasy, sci-fi, comic books, history, mythology, or whatever themed set you’ve chosen.

What if you don’t know anything about chess, haven’t read a single Lord of the Rings book, or aren’t the slightest bit interested in skeletons doing battle with valiant knights? How do you go about choosing one of these fantastical chess sets for a friend or family member? Here are a few tips to help guide you through the process.

Choosing a Fantasy Chess Set for the Super Fan

Obviously, if you know someone who has the works of J.R.R. Tolkien in leather-bound special editions, has a Gollum statue in their living room, and dresses as Frodo every Halloween, opting for a Lord of the Rings themed chess set is an easy choice. If someone is a super-fan, this leaves little room for doubt. But what if someone’s a fan of all things fantastical? If this is the case, keep moving through our tips to guide you.

Fantasy Chess Piece Materials

Fantasy chess pieces will feature differences according to what sort of material they’re constructed from. Most of the sets we’ve reviewed are made from pewter, which makes pieces to be malleable enough to be highly detailed works of art (something that’s hard to achieve with other types of metal). Pewter can be rather heavy, however, which could be a consideration if the person in question likes to tote their chess sets around. Resin is a much lighter material that still allows for great detail, extreme durability, and a lower price.

Storage and Travel

Speaking of people who like to tote their chess sets around – that’s actually a pretty big consideration in choosing a fantasy chess set. Will this set be unboxed, set up, and played with at home or will the person want to pack it up and take it to their chess club to show it off? Some of the sets in our reviews are rather large and feature no storage for the chess pieces, making them unsuitable for travel. The Gold and Silver Egyptian Chess Set does feature storage, but the entire set is a bit heavy and unwieldy for easy travel. This isn’t the case with The Alice in Wonderland Set, however: it’s a rather small chess set that provides ample storage within the stained cherry box, making it the perfect option for those who like to play on the go.

Still Looking?

If you didn’t find a fantasy chess set to suit your fancy among the ones in our reviews, take a look through our Best Themed Chess Sets page. It features an entire lineup of breathtaking chess sets that cover all interests from History to Harry Potter. You’re sure to find something to excite you, whether you’re shopping for a gift or for a nice chess set of your very own.

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The Best Fantasy Chess Sets of 2024 (Page Summary):

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