Comments by BobGreenwade

16. Midnighter. Essentially, this is a Thoroughbred Nightrider; it's a Rider version of yesterday's Thoroughbred Knight.

On boards up to 10x10, the Betza for this is NNAXCY; there's no point in trying to "ride" a move that already covers more than half the board. On larger boards (like the 12x12 used for the diagram), I believe the code would be NNAXAXCYCY.

(Yes, I know that the diagram needs to be fixed.)

I initially came up with this piece (along with several other fifth-perimeter pieces, including the previous two) purely as a mental exercise, but then the name "Midnighter" popped into my head for it, and it just seemed perfect. (I mean, seriously, it really is a cool-sounding name, isn't it? It kind of has a superheroic feel to it.)

On the piece's design, in addition to yesterday's concern about the barding eye-holes and a distinctive mark that's visible from behind, I'm wondering if there are any better "universal indicators" for Rider pieces (on the physical pieces) besides wings.

Actually, I do run along a similar path toward NNZYZYNXNX. The ZYNX is the Courier, because it's fast but stays just off the main roads (as defined by the Bishop and Rook moves). Add a Knight, and you get a Messenger at NZYNX, the rider of which is of course a Messagerider (alternately called Pony Express), as either NNZYNX (on smaller boards) or NNZYZYNXNX (on larger boards).

I still need to update those pieces' bases, but once I've done that I may share them as well.

As far as usefulness, I'd call 16x16 the minimum for any real use, and at that the Nightrider moves are still more important. The X5 moves aren't just hard to defend against, but they're also hard to set up to aim; they're generally more useful for getting to the scene of action than for the action itself. So, both the Midnighter and the Messagerider are really just Nightriders with a little extra -- for crossing the board, the X5 moves are harder to block than the Nightrider moves, since X5 can cross in two steps what the Nightrider crosses in 5.

17. Abbot. This is another piece not of my own invention, but that (in my opinion) gets too little attention. It's a simple mid-range piece that combines the Knight with a Short Bishop: B4N.

The piece was invented by Adrian King, and appears in his variants Scirocco and Typhoon. In those games, it's a promotion piece, but I don't see any reason that it couldn't start the game on the board.

18. Castellan. When I first found the Abbot, I didn't see an orthogonal counterpart, so I created it as the Castellan. After all, the Abbot is in charge of an abbey, so what would be the secular equivalent? Only as I was posting the Abbot yesterday did I find that Adrian King had indeed created the counterpart, and called it the Duke. Personally, I prefer that the pair of them be Abbot and Castellan.

The Castellan moves like a Short Rook or a Knight: R4N.

When I originally designed the piece, it was going to be called the Page, with representations of the hat and tunic of a medieval page. I think the design works just as well for Castellan or Duke.

I think it would in general be beter to use the conventional figures and symbols of the unlimited-range version for pieces that have a limited, but not very small range. These are not likely to appear in the same variant. (I would consider that an extremely poor design.)

That may be good advice. I did something a little different for tomorrow's piece, but I'll consider what you say for future additions. (This would give the Archbishop for the Abbot, and the Chancellor for the Castellan -- not horrible choices overall.)

I could see where Archbishop and Abbot, or Chancellor and Castellan, might show up in the same game -- not on an 8x8 or 10x10 board (unless it's CWDA or Pick-a-Team), but possibly for something on 12x12 to 16x16. Or, someone could let the Abbot promote to Archbishop and/or the Castellan promote to Chancellor. (I do wish the Board Painter had ways of modifying symbols besides rotation and Rider marks -- they're good, but not always adequate.) To that end, perhaps using the same symbol but rotating 45 degrees counterclockwise?

The NNZYZYNXNX would be along the same lines. A wide midnighter. Maybe you can name these two pieces the winter midnighter (for the piece I mentioned above) because the night is long in winter and summer midnighter for the piece you have created.

I'm a little belated in saying this, Aurelian, but it's nice that I got your creative juices flowing with this. Part of the reason I do this stuff is to help inspire creativity in others.

19. Lady in Waiting. What the Abbot is to the Archbishop and the Castellan is to the Chancellor, the Lady in Waiting is to the Queen: it moves four spaces in any orthogonal or diagonal direction, for a simple Q4.

There may already be a piece that moves Q4 (or K4) around somewhere, but I couldn't find it.

Well, at least it's a special rule and not a separate piece like this one.

Not a bad point, that; what I was saying is a little hard to fully explain without turning it into something that would fill the screen. Basically, it's just a different perspective.

20. Anvil. The Anvil, once placed, does not move on its own, though it may move through Relay and other means.

It's only for use in games that utilize drops. Its main ability is that, while drops normally have to be placed on vacant squares, the Anvil can only be used to capture.

In a 3D game, the Anvil starts on the top level, and locust-captures everything in its path -- friend or foe -- as it proceeds directly downward to the bottom.

Once placed, it stays where it is, blocking traffic until it's captured by the opponent.

(Not everything has to be of practical use in a game. I'd be extremely surprised -- though pleasantly so -- if someone decided to include this in their variant. Really, this is mostly for laughs.)

Thanks for the info, David! I'll want to take a look at those.

Probably the best. Like it falls on the telegraph pillar of the opponent:).

Shazam! :)

21. Fibnif. This is actually one of Ralph Betza's most infamous pieces, and I've seen it placed in a couple of games by other people here as well. It moves one space diagonally, or leaps along a Knight's forward and backward long moves, getting its name from its Betza notation: fbNF.

But I don't think anyone's ever designed a physical piece for it for in-person play. The name is a nonsense word, but the move is basically a Narrow Knight plus a Ferz, so this is what I ended up with.

Besides there being no other physical setup for certain games that deserve to be played in person, this also fueled an idea for tomorrow's companion piece.

Now I just need to figure out a good name for Q4N. Ideally, it should be related to either the Lady-in-Waiting, or one of the names for QN or QNN.

22. Sniff. If the Fibnif is fbNF, then sNF is the Sniff.

I seem to have inadvertently deleted the move diagram I had posted, but basically it's Ferz + Wide Knight -- the Fibnif move, rotated 90 degrees.

Whether anyone will ever use this in a game, well, who "nose"? At least I've "scent" it out there in "odor" for people to consider.

Not a horrible idea, but I think I'll leave that for someone else.

Queen mother?

Of course! I should've thought of that myself!

23. Gerfod. In keeping with the theme of pieces named for their Betza notation, here's one that casts the illusion of that -- though it's actually the other way around.

My late wife usually made to-do lists for each day, and the first item was always GRFD -- "Get Ready For Day." Me being me, I'd pronounce it: "Gerfod." After a while I even designed (but never had built) a piece of furniture I called a "gerfod table": similar to a small console table, with drawers for accessories, socks, and underwear, plus a half-length mirror and hooks for hanging shirt, jacket, etc.

So how does this piece move? It can leap three diagonally like a Tripper (G), slide orthogonally like a Rook (R), or leap two spaces forward like a Dabbabah (fD) -- GRfD.

This may (notwithstanding Mr. Gilman) have the distinction of being the first fairy chess piece to be named for a piece of furniture.

(It might be interesting to see a furniture-themed set for Chess With Different Armies, with the Gerfod in the Rook's position.)

I wouldn't say so. For me a chess piece has to be used in a chess or chess variant, or a fairy chess problem. Otherwise, anyone could "invent" 10 chess pieces per day as there is no limit in the possible combinations. I suggest that you invent chess variants instead, where you may try to manage the inclusion of your pieces.

I'm doing so, with some of these as well as others. I specifically just started one with the Magus, Castellan, and Lady in Waiting (as well as Abbot and Bodyguard), and I may add the Fibnif and Sniff to that one; the big one I'm developing offline includes the Pirate and the Ghost, along with the piece I'll be presenting for today and several others; and my brain is developing a couple more that would include the Hangman and Rabbit, among others. I have some vague ideas for most of the others (specifically the Midnighter, the Samurai, and the Kimono Dragon), but something will come of them.

I am sometimes presenting things purely for laughs, like the Anvil; for illustrative purposes, like the Thunder; or for context with something else, like the Thoroughbred. Those are special cases, though.

24. Sphinx. The classic sphinx had the body of a lion, the wings of an eagle, and a human face. This piece combines the modern Lion, which can move one or leap two spaces (KAND); and the Eagle, which is an alternate form for the Gryphon, moving one space diagonally and then outward like a Rook (FyafsF), for a total move of KANDyafsF.

I initially conceived this piece as one that would dominate the skies as well as a Dragon. After putting together the moves, I can see that the Dragon's going to have to step up his game. In fact, I initially was thinking to use the Japanese Lion (KANDcaKmabK) rather than the modern one (KAND), but that would've been just too powerful. As it is, the Sphinx will dominate just about any board it's on -- and so is going to have a target on its back as surely as the Queen has one in standard Chess.

I'm admittedly not quite satisfied with this design, particularly in the middle of the shaft, but I'm also developing a more stylized head so both of those things will see updating eventually.

I'm actually working on fixing most of the problems you cite. The base (basement) is one thing that I do need to address, but haven't yet. I'm also working on sculpting abstract-ish forms for some of the figures for which I've basically done remixes (like with the lion's head on today's Sphinx, and the Lion piece that I based it on, as well as the Sniff, Ghost, Rabbit, Rope, and others). The cones with heads on top are another thing that's going bye-bye; I'm going to do something different with those.

What you say about leaping pieces being just the heads is worth paying attention to. I'll examine that in the future.

I do thank you for your notes on these details, Max; they're very helpful.

And I agree with you about so many animal names for pieces. It generally bugs me. When I create an animal-based piece, it's generally because it's related to another animal-based piece in some way. I, too, would rather use human figures than animals (such as Hospitaller for Kangaroo). If there are few enough animal-named pieces in a game, I'll alter the names to the person who works with the animal (such as Falconer or Lion Tamer).

What you say about AI designing chess pieces for us will, I think, take longer than a couple of years. But it'll come.

Oh, and... in a fight, throwing furniture is a legitimate tactic. Jerry Springer knew that more than anyone. (Alternately, you can just think of furniture-based pieces as being cartoon characters.)

Ironically, the Ghost is something that (in terms of the physical design) I'm going to need to re-do; that one really is 2 objects from Thingiverse assembled in Tinkercad (or it was, before I re-did the base; I still need to figure out how to do the body).

And of course I'm aware of the historical status of animal-named pieces; the Camel, Zebra, a Giraffe, at least, are pretty well-established, and people have at least ridden camels into battle. I just rather wish there was less reliance on animal names; I still have to work to wrap my mind around a Knight being taken down by a Squirrel (at least, outside Marvel Comics).

But I'll roll with it; after all, real bishops don't often walk diagonally. The Gerfod and Anvil are part of my effort to lean into the absurdity of it, remembering that this is really a game more about geometry, mathematics, and strategy than about war.

Regardless, I'll still post these pieces, and sparking discussions like this one is part of what makes it worthwhile. Most of them are set to go into into one of my variants (meaning they're part of one in my brain, but not yet submitted), if they're not already. Others serve other purposes; hopefully there was some laughter at the Anvil and the Kimono Dragon -- and I'm even getting the early part of an idea for a game featuring the latter. And maybe someone will stumble on one of the pieces and decide that it fills a need in a variant they're contemplating.

PS: I just got done adjusting the pair of pieces for this weekend, to increase the diameter dfference between top and bottom. They both look tons better. I may need to do a bit more trimming (y'all can let me know when you see them), but I like that result.