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Bob Greenwade wrote on Sat, Dec 30, 2023 03:30 PM UTC:

165. Morningstar and 166. Faith Healer. I'm going to close out the year with something that is, as far as I can determine, very new. I call it "curved slider." (I'd call it completely new, but a couple of my Tifinagh pieces qualify for this.) A curved slider is simply a doubly-bent rider that has two 45-degree bends at the start of its move, both in the same direction. These two are the most basic of the type.

The Morningstar is the orthogonal half of the pair. It starts by moving one step orthogonally, then turning 45 degrees to move one step diagonally, then turning 45 degrees again in the same direction and proceeding like a Rook. ([W?F?qfR])

The logic behind the Morningstar name is that the piece goes around the opponent's defenses, which the morningstar weapon was designed to do with its long chain.

Take a military piece, turn it 45 degrees, and traditionally you get an ecumenical piece; performing this "end run" tactic seems to me like the scope of a Faith Healer. This piece moves one step diagonally, makes a 45 degree turn to move one step orthogonally, and then turns another 45 degrees to proceed diagaonally like a Bishop. ([F?W?qfB])

Such pieces are probably only good on large boards (12x12 or more) unless compounded with something else. I am, in fact, already working up an idea for a game that would use them.

As for the 3D designs, I'm not entirely satisfied with either one, though in the Morningstar's case it's an adjustment by necessity.

The Faith Healer's figure is supposedly topped by dramatically-stretched seven-pointed stars, though all the sharp edges makes it look more like a military piece. I don't know what else to do for it, though.


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