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Bob Greenwade wrote on Fri, Sep 29, 2023 03:02 PM UTC:

74. Bharal. I've done a little work with fifth-perimeter leapers, and while most of the practical pieces in that group are compounds with shorter leapers, if there's one fifth-perimeter atom that I'd actually put into a game of my creation*, this (2,5) leaper is the one. (AX)

A bharal, also known as a blue sheep, is native to the upper Himalayas, and is distinctive for the males' large, outwardly-curved horns (the females' horns are shorter and straighter). It's also the second-longest leaper (after the Klipspringer of southern Africa) in the bovine family.

Part of what I like about the Bharal is the general look (though I do need to rework this one; I'm currently in the process of thickening all bovid ears, and the head proper may need remodeling). It's also surprisingly agile for a long leaper; it can make a "Knight's tour" covering the entire board (of any size), can easily leap across a 3x3 spell zone, and on a larger board has a decent selection of spaces that it can land on in 2-3 moves.

And of course there's my favorite part: the puns. Compound it with a War Machine, and you have a Bharal Roll. Compound it with a Joker, and it's a Bharal of Laughs. Let it make two leaps per turn, and it's a Double Bharal. Compound it with an Archer, and it's a Shooting Fission a Bharal. (Okay, maybe that last one's scraping the bottom of the bharal.) And I'm sure there are plenty more.

(I'm also working up a [pun-free] QBRM set for this piece, focusing on Tibet.)

*Dealer's Chess doesn't count.


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