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I understood that the name of this piece in Courier Chess was spelled Mann, and the German speling was usually preserved in English to distinguish from 'man' meaning a piece of any kind. Either way it is confusing. My own preference is for calilng it Prince, in keeping with royal names for other orthogonal-diagonal combined pieces. Commoner has the problem that constitutionally the term covers Pawns and Knights!
I think that 'henchman' would be a more idiomatic translation from the German than 'commoner' or 'man' but it seems a bit late in the day to suggest that.
I like both Prince and Henchman. Both are much for colorful than Man or Commoner. I think Henchman would be particularly appropriate in games that use many such pieces.
Does anyone know of a problem featuring more than one of this piece? If so, is its problematist name pluralised as if a standard English name (Manns) or is it naturalised plural and all (Männer)? I am aware that 'men' means pieces in general, as in 'The man on a5 is a Nightrider and the men on d2 and e6 are Fiveleapers'.
I have never seen the plural of the man/Mann piece of the Courier game, but I'd consider the plural 'Mannen' (which has an archaic tone and restricts the meaning from male person to soldier or guardian). Mannen may even work as an irregular pliral in english (like oxen or VAXen)
I agree with Joerg for games in which 'Mann' is used.
The Mann is also used in Waterloo Chess and Amsterdam Medieval Chess (called spy) and "Chess on an Infinite Plane" and "Bulldog Chess" (called guard). I'm in a few games using a guard but no one is sure what it's worth. Fair exchange for a bishop or knight, or is it worth more than that?
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