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Sam, the Gustavian board has some interesting characteristics. It would
probably work if the popular Capablanca-knights are placed in the corners,
similar to Gustav III's Chess, which is excellent. One aspect of the
Gustavian board is that the king can move to the extra corner square and
launch a pawn storm on the same wing, without leaving the king exposed. 

It is also true that one must use different setups also in modest
variants. On the Gustavian board one cannot always place the extra pieces
in the corners. Luckily, it works fine to place the knights there. For
some reason, on the Gustavian board, unlike on the 8x10 board, the knights
aren't weakened, not even when placed at the extra corners.

Introduction of an extra piece by dropping can be done by pawn relocation,
either one or two steps forward. The new piece is placed either on the
first or second rank, depending on piece type. For instance, in order for
the Perier cannon to function reasonably well in this context, it must be
input on the first rank, and the pawn relocated two steps (not one).
Although it is a lazy way of creating a new variant, it isn't wholly
trivial. 
/Mats