I'll be the first to admit that I'm bad at chess, but this went on for an embarassingly long time before I realized that the reason the movement seemed erratic was because the pieces weren't all actual chess pieces.
This is an extremely clever game and it was fun to play. Not knowing exactly what the pieces did opened the floor for some experimentation and it really felt like you were mastering a system when you played. It's a good feeling.
I think my only gripe is that it seems you only get a single piece from each victory. It leads to some extremely conservative play, which might be the point, or else you have to be slowly ground down through attrition as you find more challenging opponents - which might also be the point.