Dino Wars is a strategic board game with some similarities to chess, with combat decided by action scenes. If you ever played Archon you know the idea behind this game.

On a chess-like board (9x10 pieces in this game) you move different sorts of dinosaurs. If you hit an square on which an opponent dinosaur stands, the game changes to action mode. This is played as a beat-'em-up, in which you must beat the opponent dinosaur to win the square. Each dinosaur has it's own strategies, movement restrictions and different combat skills - which are roughly based on the historical properties of the real dinosaurs. As a result, knowing which dinosaurs are likely to win combat is crucial to the strategy.

The action scenes can be played independently of the main strategic game.