Tactica was a two-player strategy board game played in the Chiss Ascendancy, the nation of the Chiss species. It had pieces that were based on various creatures known to the Chiss, such as the nightdragon, the firewolf, the groundlion, the whisperbird, and the stingfly. By 19 BBY, the Chiss officer Mitth'raw'nuru, core name "Thrawn," often played the game with his friend Syndic Mitth'ras'safis "Thrass" at a bistro on the planet Csilla.
Tactica was a strategy-based board game played in the Chiss Ascendancy nation. Its pieces were named and designed after various creatures known to the Chiss species—the nightdragon, the firewolf, the groundlion, the whisperbird, and the stingfly. Holding zones were also a part of the game. Pieces in the holding zone could support each other if the player decided on a sortie—an option in the game a player could use as a backup plan if one's main strategy had failed.
Thrawn and Thrass (pictured; left to right) often played Tactica at a bistro on Csilla.
By 19 BBY, Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet officer Mitth'raw'nuru, core name "Thrawn," and Syndic Mitth'ras'safis "Thrass" played Tactica together at a bistro on the Unknown Regions planet Csilla, a tradition they held through many of their meetings. As Thrass was new to Tactica, Thrawn taught his friend how to play and often advised him on moves to make during their games, which Thrass greatly appreciated.
During one of their matches, Thrawn complimented Thrass' performance, as the latter had only learned to play eight weeks prior. The Syndic stated that the game played to all of the strengths of Thrawn, a military officer, and against his own, which included verbal skills and theatrics. Thrawn disagreed as he believed tactics and strategy were tools used by Syndics as well. Shortly after, the two Mitth friends thwarted a robbery attempt at the bistro, earning the gratitude of the cafe's manager, before returning to their game.
In 18 BBY, now-Senior Captain Thrawn was exiled from the Ascendancy for breaking the nation's non-intervention policy during a battle. He explained to Ascendancy Admiral Ar'alani that Expansionary Defense Fleet Supreme General Ba'kif had to "sacrifice" Thrawn to the Chiss ruling body of the Syndicure—which had wanted to bring charges against all the officers under his command—in order to protect the officers who aided the senior captain, as one might do in a game of Tactica.
Tactica appeared in the flashbacks of the 2021 novel Thrawn Ascendancy: Lesser Evil, the final installment of Timothy Zahn's The Ascendancy Trilogy.[1]