Comments by BobGreenwade
Aquachess. One level underwater, one on the surface, and one in the sky, with many strange pieces. (3x(8x8), Cells: 192) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]However the Sparrow (mQcK) is Duke from Dan Lee's asymmetric Empire Chess (which is playable on Pychess)
There are so many different takes on what should be the Duke that I'm not even going to bother with that title. If I ever do, it'll probably be the Musketeer version (W2N).
Nonetheless, thanks for the info.
47. Aurochs. and 48. Impala. These two compounds have been around for a while, mainly in fairy chess problems. I've toyed with them for a while, but not until today did I make the association between them (the pieces, not the animal) as being related. They're another pair that I think are underappreciated and underused, having especial potential on large variants of 12x12 and larger.
The Aurochs (sometimes misnamed Auroch) combines the moves of the Knight and Giraffe (NFX).
The real-life Aurochs is a now-extinct (since 1657) species of cattle, and one of the largest.
The Impala combines the moves of the Knight and Antelope (NYN).*
The animal known as the Impala is a little more familiar, as a species of antelope living in eastern and southern Africa.
(You weren't expecting a Chevy, were you? If I did that, I'd probably use the car from Supernatural as a basis, and then try a similar trick with the Nightrider.)
*My normal inclination would be to write it is NNY, but the Interactive Diagrams interpret that as a Nightrider with an unknown Y atom.
I'm working on supplementing these two with pieces I'm currently calling a Baboon (FXNY) and Lemur (NFXNY), pending someone pointing out that those moves are already in a game somewhere under some other name (or even just suggesting something better, especially for the Baboon).
Dealer's Chess. Armies are chosen by dealing special cards. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I think I'll open this up for discussion before I upload the PDFs.
The items most open to discussion are the "starter kit" pieces (all three types), both the lineups and the text descriptions.
Other names, sure: Gilman has Giselle; the unpublished Mirodoly calls it a Sagittarius; and Aurelian's Grand Apothecaries have closely‐related (albeit Duke‐Falcon‐style lame and augmented) Vultures. Use in other games, not so much: only the Apothecary Vultures, and those are the most tenuous. But in any case I imagine none of those (nor Gilman's Lookout or Hovercraft for your Aurochs and Impala — names which he ofc uses elsewhere for hex‐specific (and in the latter case also 3D) pieces) are much to your taste ;)
The Giselle for Antelope + Giraffe is great, actually! Especially since my design of the Baboon piece is rather silly-looking, and not in a good way. I'll probably spell it Gazelle, though (since Gilman's Gazelle is my Okapi).
(The Lemur piece also looks silly, but in a good way after all -- no worse than the animal itself.)
Looking at that same paragraph, I also like his take on the Muezzin, as Camel + Giraffe; that may find its way into my Desert Dust game. I can't find his Camel + Antelope, though; if nothing else happens, it'll become a Cantaloupe. (Well, why not? We already have Rhubarb and Rutabaga, as well as the Pancake and Waffle. Throw in the Mushroom and Falafel, and we have the makings of a Food Fight game!)
You are definitely the Master Piecefinder. ;)
Isn't silly to say that lemurs look silly? Maybe the lemurs think the opposite about us.
It's the eyes. Some species of lemur have a rather Feldmanesque look to them.
Desert Dust. Large variant with Arabian-themed pieces. (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Once an Interactive Diagram is posted, it's incredibly complicated to fix anything else. I got most of BnEm's notes done, but the Malik and Pawn things, along with the Satrap/Ayatollah mixup, are things that require preserving and removing the ID before switching the editor to WYSIWYG, then going back to HTML and pasting back in (with any edits to the ID done separately before resturning).
That's what had to wait until I had a bit more time, today.
Oh, and I had noticed the "Shiek" typo. I'll have to hunt down the other one.
WHen you edit your page, you have a toggle box with "Source" for every section. If you play with it for the sections where the ID is not, then nothing occur to the section where the ID is. Well, this is my own experience.
Otherwise, to prevent accident, I make a copy of the ID code in a txt file in order to use it back if necessary in case of corruption.
The next time I go to edit one of these (which I may soon do with Dealer's Chess), I'll look for that again. I tried to find tha sort of thing once before, to no avail.
But that copy of the ID code is similar to what I already do: copy and paste into an open WordPerfect document, then cut-and-paste back. It's also a tad easier to edit the ID that way (not much, but still easier).
Besides, switching to WYSIWYG for fixing simple typo's seems unnecessary. These can be fixed just as easily in the HTML source.
That's how I was able to fix the other typos and stuff. The "Shiek" typo I caught after my previous edit, and decided to wait until fixing the Satrap/Ayatollah thing, since that was a little more involved; opening the file to fix one typo didn't seem worth the trouble when I knew I'd be going in soon anyway for something bigger. That's not even considering Jean-Louis's very fine notes.
Plus, with my vision, finding some of those typos are a pain in HTML mode.
Dovecote Chess. One small non-rules tweak generally changes the character and pace of gameplay. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Desert Dust. Large variant with Arabian-themed pieces. (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I did find the "source" button, that Jean-Louis recommended, so I think I'll be going that route, at least for this variant. It seems much simpler.
Thanks for the help, though, to you (H.G.) as well as Jean-Louis (and Bn Em as well).
Interactive diagrams. 
Diagrams that interactively show piece moves.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Perhaps some time soon you can work the new property of the quote (technically, in this context, an apostrophe) as well as an example using the Troll. :)
Yeah, "Hajj" is pretty hard to visualize for the physical piece. I did figure out something for the Cataloupe, though.
And I look forward to seeing what you make of Dealer's Chess. ;)
49. Gunship. The Gunship, basically, combines the moves of the Ship and the Cannon. The Ship moves one square diagonally, from which point it may continue directly forward or backward like a Rook; the Cannon moves like a Rook, but can only capture if it jumps over an intervening piece.
I couldn't find the proper Betza for the ship, but [F?fqR]mRcpR will be converted in the Interactive Diagram setup.
The best use for this would probably be as a potential promotion piece for a Ship, though it could also be something in a large-board game where other pieces have to be moved out of the way before it can be brought out.
Of course the piece itself is just a Ship with a big ol' cannon stuck on it.
Dealer's Chess. Armies are chosen by dealing special cards. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]If nobody has any comments on this by tomorrow, I'll go ahead and upload the PDFs, then move on to the next variant in my head (and/or a couple of expansion sets for this one).
It's certainly an interesting take on Random setups, quite different from the in some ways superficially similar Universal Chess due to Carlos Cetina. The main potential weakness compared to sth with a bit more player agency such as Pick‐the‐Team is that you're relying on statistics to yield a more‐or‐less balanced setup; sometimes it'll work, sometimes it really won't. And ofc especially with Different Pawns and Kings it's probably hard for any but the most experienced(!) players to tell in advaance how balanced a given piece selection will be. Obviously the usual strategies (two games, switching armies; optional Pie rule, ⁊c.) can help w/ this to an extent, but it's sth to bear in mind.
Yes, I do think that probability will keep the two sides from being too overbalanced against each other, though of course the worst can always happen (especially if I'm one of the players). Perhaps a "redeal" rule is in order.
Still, as you mention later, it's not the pieces themselves that make the difference, but how one uses them. ("It's not the size that matters; it's how you use it.")
I'm not totally sure the ‘Introductory Rule’ is likely to be much help; defending against unfamiliar pieces is at least as difficult as handling them oneself (as I learned playing Metamachy)
After an offline conversation about this game, I think you're right about the Introductory thing (though that conversation yielded different reasons); I'll delete it.
Is the Arrow Pawn described as intended? As written it's a superset (which I recognise from JWB's Meta‐Chess, though idr the name and I don't have the PDF to hand) of the steward (which is not denoted as a pawn — though it's of comparable strength to — indeed in some cases perhaps weaker than — some of the other pawns)
Yes, the Arrow Pawn is described as intended; that's how I found it (Arrow Pawn Chess c/o Wikiipedia). And I'm aware that its move is a superset of the Steward; I almost deleted one or the other, then realized that it's not entirely a bad thing. The Arrow Pawn is about as powerful as a Pawn can get, and still be a Pawn; it promotes, and is both capable of and subject to en passant. (I should make explicit the rule that Pawns with permanent double moves are still subject to en passant.)
Ngl upon reading ‘Gold Pawn’ and ‘Silver Pawn’ I was half‐expecting the Gilman pieces :p Also I like the Zombie Pawn — it's contageon as in Maka Dai Dai (and H.G.'s several spinoffs) but for the opposite purpose
The Gold and Silver Pawns are, of course, actually the Gold and Silver Generals from Shogi, seriously demoted. (It seems they went out drinking one night....)
I actually created the Zombie Pawn for something else entirely, and needed something to fill the ranks here. (The Left End and Right End Pawns should show you how desperate I was to get a full set!)
Is there a special rule for castling with a colourbound corner piece, à la CwDA?
Good point; I should look into that. Since CwDA uses symmetrical armies and this doesn't, though, it may not be as necessary.
It's a small detail, but whilst I'm not normally a fan of the promotion‐only‐to‐captured‐pieces rule, the way it's done here is a nice touch :)
Yeah, I'm not real fond of "promote only to pieces you've captured," but it just seemed right for this game. It's a further way to make use of the fact that you have to bring one of each color.
The idea of expansions is pleasant, and perhaps with physical sets (and to a degree with software) even makes sense, but in practice is there any reason not just to pick pieces from e.g. one of the existing Cetina UC lists? At least for regular pieces, since the Royal and Pawn lists for those games are perhaps a little anæmic (though again, one could simply merge the lists). Especially since the main point of this (in common with UC, and arguably Pick‐the‐Piece, among others) is afaict less the actual set of available pieces and more the way they're employed (although ofc the obvious counterargument regarding trying to compile a Canonical List of Pieces is always a thing)
I hadn't looked at Universal Chess before now, but most of the pieces there are certainly fitting for this game. In fact, I already had my eye on the Chainsaw (which, if you've been paying attention, should come as no surprise at all).
It certainly should show that this ruleset assumes that it's a physical-set game, with one or both players either 3D printing the pieces or building them in some other way. I've made sure that I've properly designed the pieces as much as possible, since the cards have the preview pictures from Thingiverse. (After I finish this, but before it goes "live," I'll be arranging things on Thingiverse so all the pieces are in one place, or at least all from each type are in one place. The same will hold for expansions.)
And indeed, the initial set (at least, the set of regular Pieces) is, as much as I could manage, made up of pieces that are relatively common and familiar to fairy chess fans, or at least not difficult to comprehend given a decent description and diagram. (IMO all 40 of those pieces, except for the Turtle, should have Piececlopedia entries same with the regional Pawns, and maybe the Rex as well.)
A "Friendly" Game of... Chess?. Each side has Friends, and several odd pieces. Insanity ensues. (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]…or fellow Bodyguard?
Good catch, that. I generally write these things with the assumption that the Bodyguard will stay in the back and play defense, but there's no real reason that one couldn't try to make a play for the center or even the far end.
But how would that other friend get there? Surely if it got there on its own volition it would be considered to have moved, meaning can't have and therefore can't transmit the initial Pawn moves?
This would require that the move be passed on from another Friend, who is in range of both the Pawn and whatever piece that Friend is using to transmit the move. The Friend transmitting the move can have moved, and pass it on to the Friend in question; the restriction against having moved is on the recipient.
Does a Squirrel Displacement not count as movement for the piece being displaced? That would solve this, though it'd also make it possible (indeed necessary for the chain) for a Friend to gain the initial moves directly
For purposes of an "opening move," Displacement does count as a move. (This decision is not final.)
So to be clear (purely for my benefit, as I was thrown the first time I read it), the Squirrel can still capture enemy pieces normally?
Yes, that's correct.
Iow a Friend captured whilst under the guard of a Poison annihilates its attacker? Is this optional (in the rare case, such as blocking check(mate) that waiving it would be desirable)?
I probably should make it explicit one way or the other. Probably the Poison (and Jellyfish) would be automatically poisonous, making this answer "no, not optional."
Hia could be optional, though; that seems like something that a Bodyguard could "turn off" if desired, though I'm not sure why one would. The rifle and withdrawal captures are already optional for the host pieces.
And this is why I didn't use Zombie Pawns in this game!
I have to say I like this a lot. It's a shame it looks like a nightmare to programme; looks like playing it would be a fascinating experience :)
Thanks! And yes, it'd be an absolute nightmare to program in software, for more reasons than I want to think about. I personally would want to play it in person! It may be most practical to play by conventional email. But even if nobody ever plays it in any mode, at least it'll give readers something to think about.
Well, as I say in the description, this is largely an exaggeration for illustration, even though I'd love to try a face-to-face version.
I'll go in a little later and address at least the first three notes you gave in the text. (I know I need a better word than "Displacer," since "displace" is also a type of capture around here. I'm open to suggestions there before I go and upload a bunch of pieces with the ability.)
As for the Sniper, in this case it gets worse than that. The Snipers don't need to be centralized; a Sniper can stay safely in its spot, and Friends relay the shots all over the board. For this reason, I'd strongly recommend against having a Sniper and a Friend (at least, more than one) in a game with conventional checkmate. As it is, if the Sniper's power gets to be a problem in the game, the opponent may just need to find a way to take it out, perhaps using a Midnighter, Impala, or Gerbil.
50. Root-N25 Leaper. This piece isn't really meant for actual use; and even though I have it filed under "Mostly for Laughs," it's not really a joke piece either. It works as either of those (it does have some potential for a game; and there are humorous aspects, as we'll soon see), but really it's a thought experiment that serves as a mathematical exercise and illustration.
We have a Root-25 leaper (0,5)(3,4) and a Root-50 leaper (1,7)(5,5); and there are many other numbers that, especially on larger boards, could also be used. So, what if a piece could make any jump as long as it's a multiple of 25?
On an 8x8 square board, this is very basic; it's a compound of the Root-25 and Root-50 leapers (ZDXFXXGY).
On a 10x10 board, only one more move is added, a (6,8) from a Root-100 (ZDXFXXGYDYYY).
On a 12x12 board, there are several more moves, from Root-100 (0,10), Root-125 (2,11)(5,10), and Root-200 (10,10) (ZDXFXXGYDYYYWXXXAXXXCXYYAYYY).
On a 16x16 board, we add (0,15) from Root-225, (2,14) from Root-200, (9,12) from Root-225, (9,13) from Root-250, (10,15) from Root-325, and (15,15) from Root-450 (ZDXFXXGYDYYYWXXXAXXXCXYYAYYYHXXXXAXXXXGXYYYFXYYYYDXYYYYYGYYYYYY).
And we can all be thankful that there rarely are boards larger than 16x16. I mean, do you really want to know what the Betza code is for a Root-N25 Leaper on a 24x24 board?
I keep thinking that maybe this needs a better physical piece... but then again, maybe it doesn't.
A "Friendly" Game of... Chess?. Each side has Friends, and several odd pieces. Insanity ensues. (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]OK, I see what you mean. And the Archer already offers a rifle capture, so the Sniper doesn't really add anything to this.
I probably should replace the Sniper, then. What with, do you think? A Gryffon, or some other bent rider?
EDIT: Never mind; I have the answer: Ghost!
UPDATE: I've fully replaced the Sniper with the Ghost, except for the setup diagrams (which are a major chore that will have to wait).
I still want to use the Sniper some time, but it'll be as a promotion.
Dealer's Chess. Armies are chosen by dealing special cards. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I'm ready to upload the PDFs, but I've realized that they exceed the 2MB storage limit (two of them are bigger than that all by themselves). I'm wondering if I shouldn't just put them on this game's Thingiverse page (once I create it) and link to there.
Addendum: I'm referring to linking directly to the PDFs, as opposed to just linking to the respective pages and letting the reader find the PDFs there.
A "Friendly" Game of... Chess?. Each side has Friends, and several odd pieces. Insanity ensues. (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I'll get on that "Guarding" thing when I next go into editing this; thank you for the note.
Dealer's Chess. Armies are chosen by dealing special cards. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I've now (out of necessity) put all of the downloads on Thingiverse, and linked there from here.
Besides providing a larger volume of storage for the big PDFs, that will make changing anything much simpler (the "upload a new file with the same name" doesn't work for me here, for some reason).
So, I'm still open to notes if (for example) any of the move descriptions seem confusing, vague, incomplete, etc.
Otherwise, I think this game is good for posting.
A "Friendly" Game of... Chess?. Each side has Friends, and several odd pieces. Insanity ensues. (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]From the diagram I take it this is allowed only when moving to Alibaba destinations?
That's correct; the Ghost goes to "the next square beyond."
Review: White and Black from Brown. Review of book of fairy chess problems.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Does anyone know of any still‐extant copies of this?
I did a bit of searching, and I can find only one Web page besides this one that even mentions it. On eBay there's a "pre-owned" copy for sale for about $40.
51. Revolver (Gunman). Here's another piece I created for my Clue crossover (which I'd start posting, except that I'm having a minor issue with the board design).
The Revolver is an iconic core part of the original Clue (aka Cluedo), so it needs to be in the game in some form. I wanted the rifle captures to be more distant than those of the Archer (1,2), so besides moving one step orthogonally without capture, it captures like a Bison at (1,3)(2,3). (mWcaibCcaibZ)
For context, in this game whoever holds a weapon gains that weapon's move for his Dummy piece, which replaces the King, but the weapon (and its powers) must be relinquished when it's part of a "proposal," or when its power is used to capture. (That's subject to change, of course, but it'll end up as something like that.) But the piece also has to be not too overwhelming as a Gunman in a regular CV, and after a discussion yesterday about the longer-range Sniper (0,5)(3,4), this is a concern.
My amateurish 3D sculpting skills are also a concern, but there's not much that you lot can do about that. :)
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46. Linebacker Pawn. The Linebacker Pawn moves one space directly or diagonally forward, but does not capture. Instead, it pushes an enemy piece to the space beyond (which must be empty). For its initial move, it may slide two spaces instead of one, with the same effect on an enemy piece in the destination square.
The Betza notation for this is particularly long and complex: fmFfmWifmF2ifmW2fpafabucFfpafabucWfafpafabucFfafpafabucW (though I'm not 100% sure about those last two sections).
Besides being good for a game heavy on forced-move powers, I think this would be a fitting piece for any game with a sports theme, especially American football.