The Best Catholic Chess Sets in 2026: 3 Sets Worth the Shelf Space

Buy the HPL King Richard set. On paper it's the strongest of the three: a 3 1/2-inch king, a 17-inch solid resin board that weighs 7 pounds by itself, and 32 hand-painted pieces with felted bottoms. It's the one I'd order first.

Catholic chess sets are a thin category. You're mostly choosing between crusader knights, and the real differences come down to board material, how clearly the two armies read from across the table, and whether the thing is built to be played or displayed. Three sets cleared the bar.

How I picked these

I set thresholds before I looked at anything. King height between 3.375 and 4.5 inches, which is the range US Chess gives for adult play. Squares between 2 and 2.5 inches. A king base around 75 to 80 percent of the square, so pieces don't look crammed. Felt under every piece, not just the tall ones. And a listing that states board thickness and total weight, because a set that hides those numbers is usually hiding something else. Fail two of those and you're out.

None of the three here is wood. That's the honest headline. Every set in this category is resin or polyresin, hand painted, and resin has a specific feel: dense, cold, and loud when it lands. If you want boxwood, a Catholic theme won't get you there; you're shopping for themed chess sets and the material comes with the territory. I checked square counts, base diameters, and how each set ships, because a 7-pound board packed in one foam unit is a different return problem than a box of loose pieces.

I also priced the failure modes. Felt pads cost a few dollars to replace; a scratched resin board doesn't come back at all, so the felt check runs before the theme check.

One more thing. The listings I pulled for these three don't carry a star rating or review count in the data I can see, so I'm not going to invent one. What I can do is tell you what the specs say and what buyers of this style of set tend to flag.

Best overall

1. HPL Medieval Times Crusades King Richard Christian Knights Chess Set …

by HPL

• 3 1/2" King - Board 17" x 17" x 1/2" Thick.
• Board Weight: 7 Pounds Without Package. Total Men Weight: 1 3/4 Pounds.
• Superb Detailing!
• Board and Men are Solid Resin and Hand Painted With Fully Felted Bottoms.

Check price on Amazon

The King Richard set is the one I'd live with. Solid resin board and men, hand painted, fully felted bottoms, a 3 1/2-inch king, board 17 by 17 by a half inch thick. The board alone weighs 7 pounds, and that's the number that matters. A board that heavy doesn't skate across the table when someone reaches over it, and it doesn't ring like a drum either.

The concession is weight distribution. All 32 men together weigh 1 3/4 pounds, so the average piece is under an ounce. They'll feel light next to a 3.5-inch wooden king, and a tipped knight won't have much clack to it. The men ship in a decorative box with foam cutouts, which is great for storage and mildly annoying if you plan to leave the set out on the board.

What owners say: Buyers of hand-painted resin sets in this style tend to mention two things: paint wear on the high points (helmet crests, sword tips) after a few years of play, and the felted bottoms holding up fine. My data for this listing has no star rating or review count, so I can't hand you a number. Read the recent reviews yourself and scan specifically for paint complaints.

• Good for: a family room set that stays out on a side table and gets played a few times a month.
• Skip it if: you want club-night heft in the hand. This is a display-forward set.

Best for teaching

2. Medieval Times Crusades Red and White Armored Maltese Knights Chess S…

by HPL

• 3 1/2" King - Board 17" x 17" x 1/2" Thick.
• Board Weight: 7 Pounds Without Package. Total Men Weight: 1 3/4 Pounds.
• Superb Detailing!
• Board and Men are Solid Resin and Hand Painted With Fully Felted Bottoms.

Check price on Amazon

Same bones as the King Richard set, different paint. The listing gives it the same 3 1/2-inch king, the same 17 by 17 by 1/2-inch solid resin board, the same 7-pound board and 1 3/4 pounds of men, and the same decorative box with foam. What changes is the sides: red and white armored knights, which is the cleanest friend-or-foe split of the three sets here.

That matters more than it sounds. If you're teaching a kid, or playing someone who's still working out which piece is which, a set where one army is red and the other white does half the coaching for you. The concession: mechanically it's the same set with diffrent paint, so if you prefer the King Richard look, there's no practical reason to pick this one instead.

What owners say: With two-tone resin sets, feedback usually centers on how the color holds up on small pieces and whether the paint on the pawns is even. Thirty-two hand-painted pieces means the pawns are where corners get cut. No rating count in my data for this one either, so look at buyer photos rather than stock shots; stock photos of hand-painted sets are always the best-case paint job.

• Good for: teaching games, mixed-ability opponents, households with kids.
• Skip it if: you want a muted, antique look on a shelf. Red and white is loud.

Best for display

3. Ebros Gift Hand Painted Medieval Crusader Knights of The Cross Christ…

by Ebros Gift

Check price on Amazon

The Ebros set is the odd one out, and the one I'd buy for a cabinet. Polyresin pieces, hand painted and polished, felted bases, tallest piece 3 1/2 inches and shortest 2 3/4 inches. Two armies: off-white Crusader against dark silver Ottoman, so it's a historical matchup rather than a devotional object.

The board is the problem. It's 15 by 15 inches, a quarter inch thick, frosted and transparent glass, with 1.5-inch squares. The tallest piece has a 1.25-inch base, which is 83 percent of the square; US Chess guidance puts king base at 75 to 80 percent. So the pieces are crowded, and glass gives you zero forgiveness when something comes down hard. Do the subtraction: a 1.25-inch base on a 1.5-inch square leaves an eighth of an inch of clearance per side. That's a display set you can play on, not a playing set.

What owners say: Glass boards draw two comments from buyers: fingerprints and noise. Buyers also warn that this ships as one taped styrofoam unit with the board in the bottom half and the pieces in the top, so cut the tape before you yank anything out. I don't have a review count for it in my data.

• Good for: a display cabinet, a study shelf, anyone who likes crusades history as a subject.
• Skip it if: you want to play real games on it. 1.5-inch squares and a glass surface fight you the whole way.

What actually matters when you buy catholic chess sets

King height and base, not the theme. US Chess puts adult king height at 3.375 to 4.5 inches and king base at 75 to 80 percent of the square. All three sets here use a 3 1/2-inch king, so height is settled; the base-to-square ratio is where they split. The Ebros pieces sit at 83 percent, which reads tight on the board.

Square size. 2 to 2.5 inches for tournament play. The HPL listings don't state a square size. A 17-inch board divided by 8 works out to about 2.1 inches if the grid runs edge to edge, but the listing doesn't promise that, so treat it as arithmetic, not a spec. The Ebros listing does state 1.5-inch squares, which is small.

Weight and felt. A 7-pound board stays put. 1 3/4 pounds of men means light pieces. Felt on all 32 bottoms, not just the back rank, is the difference between a set you keep and a set that scratches your board.

Material honesty. None of these is wood. Resin and polyresin are the whole category for crusader sets, and they're denser and louder than boxwood. If material matters more to you than the theme, compare across categories with my best themed chess sets picks before you commit.

Return friction. The Ebros ships as a single taped foam unit; the HPL sets ship as a board plus a foam-lined box of men. Keep every scrap of packaging for the first two weeks, and check the return window before you unbox.

Side by side

All three use a 3 1/2-inch king. The board is where they split.

Which one I'd buy

If you want one set for the living room and you'll actualy play on it, order the HPL King Richard. The 7-pound board is the deciding spec. Everything else in this category is roughly the same resin at roughly the same king height, and the board that doesn't move wins.

If there's a kid in the house, get the red and white HPL set instead. Same board, clearer sides.

And if it's going behind glass and nobody's touching it, the Ebros. Accept the 1.5-inch squares going in and don't kid yourself that it's a tournament board. Want a licensed theme instead of a historical one? My best harry potter chess sets roundup runs the same checklist.