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Bob Greenwade wrote on Sun, Jul 16, 2023 05:50 PM UTC:

Most of my critiques are from the perspective of a writer/proofreeder, with an eye to making this easy to read and understand, though there are a couple of thoughts here from a prospective player (which I am; I think this looks like something worth playing).

So I'll start with what'll probably seem like a nitpick: "flipped" has two P's. (I only see one time where you get this right.)

For the Setup, I'm not sure what the purpose is for the two different views, though I will say that I like the second one (with the neutral pieces in grey) better. I'd recommend listing the Peacemaker and Watchers as a completely separate section (Black, White, Grey).

I'm also not sure why the Treasurer has a lion icon, though I certainly do understand how it can be hard oftentimes to find an appropriate icon for a new piece.

Actual nitpick: All the chess rules apply except that Castling is not used. (Player's perspective: Why not?)

Each of the four new pieces (Heavy Knight, Peacemaker, Treasurer, and Warden) should have a subsection, with a header, describing all of the rules pertaining to it. That includes moving all such text from the Rules sectioin to there.

The Heavy Knight is basically the piece more often called a Centaur, Counselor, or Crowned Knight. Noting that here (including the link) would be helpful for veterans, and a move diagram would be helpful for newbies.

The hardest part to understand is how the Treasurer captures. It seems to be left as implied  that it does it by moving next to the target piece and performing a rifle capture, but I'm not clear on whether that happens immediately or as a separate move. And if it's a rifle capture, there seems to me to be no need to move the converted target. If the target is moved, then it would seem simpler to drop it onto the starting space (or a starting space) for the piece on its new team.

Since all the other pieces apparently capture by displacement (as usual), the suggestion for moving to the starting space might apply to captured Treasurers.

Another simplification for the Treasurer would be that Treasurers are simply immune to each other's influence. The Immobilization seems to me like an unnecessary complication. (Alternately, they could convert each other instantly, effectively switching places.)

A physical description of the Watchers, for those playing with physical pieces, would be good. My impression is that they'd be a set of disks, probably grey, with something on the underside stating what piece they act as once they enter play. A subsection under Notes could even be a brief "how--to" on making them.

The bit about a player declining (a better word, I think, than "refusing") the second turn is best put right after that turn is mentioned.

The Peacemaker's inspiration from Duck Chess (including a link) would be welcome in the Notes. Another thing for notes (besides that and the above-mentioned "how-to") would be advice to have a full extra set on hand (minus Kings, but plus two Peacemakers) to drop in place of converted Watchers, plus maybe a few extras for Pawn promotion.


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