Comments by nelk114

There was a little bit of discussion regarding the (4,2) leaper's names in this thread a couple years ago

As far as 3D (or in general non‐square) Betza extensions/analogues go, the only real problem is the different kinds of direction which don't necessarily correspond to the square‐board ones. But at least for Atoms that shouldn't be too big a problem: there's still plenty of capital letters left to go around; probably even enough to cover outlandish things like hex‐prism geometry if necessary

Directional modifiers (extending f, b, l, r, s, v, and the like) are more of a problem given the paucity of lower‐case letters left over

The ‘Zebrose’ exists already in theory as Charles Gilman's ‘Bezra’ (derived from a slightly tenuous pun on Horse/Rose). It doesn't seem to have been used in any games yet though (understandably since the rose itself is already awkward enough)

This one seems at a cursory glance to more‐or‐less match what you guys are describing? (The comments section demonstrates that you've both seen it at any rate)

Since the Knight “moves” two squares and “jumps over” one, I'd go with the first interpretation: a Tape Chess Knight is a single‐leap TC Bishop. Iow they are Dabbabas/Dabbabariders

And what will be, if we stick a tape together as a Moebius Ring?

(per the page)

Since the ring basically is 1D (no ‘almost’ about it) and Möbius strips are a 2D idea (albeit realisable physically only bygoing into 2D/3D repectively) nothing special would happen; it'd be the same game

Alas, Charles hasn't been seen here since 2016; I don't think anyone knows what's become of him

It's not the first time someone has suggested doing an editing pass on M&B; I've considered doing one myself and probably will in time

I wonder, though, if a Friend can pass on moves to another Friend....

Per the page, the rule for this is the same as the rule for the Orphan: a Friend defending another friend passes on all the moves of its own defenders

The interesting question (raised by Charles wrt the Orphan and Joker) regards interaction of distinct mimics: what happens if an Orphan defends a friend? Does it pass on its attackers' powers or (my preferred option but more obscure, especially if applied recursively) does it lets the friend move as an orphan (and thus as any of its own attackers)?

In any case, whilst interesting, this page is a bit of an anomaly: afaict it's the only piece in the piececlopedia never (yet — pending your idea) to have been used in anything, game or even problem

FyaqfF achieves the same effect much more parsimoniously, using the extended senses of z and q that H.G. introduced

Fwiw, if you're already referring to M&B, it might as well be noted that the AFX is already named there as a Gingaroo (extrapolated from Kangaroo as per Diverse Directions), though ofc that's a nonsense word so tastes may differ as to whether it's suitable.

I'd also be lightly surprised if it's been used anywhere before

BNNY

Very Betzan thinking :‌)

Gilman did end up proposing, a few years later, Rabbit as a Baronwise (i.e. 3D‐exclusive) Chu‐shogi Lion relative; Bunny was tabled later in the same thread for its forward‐only counterpart. They (and the Dukewise — and thus available in Hex — Bull) never made it into Man and Beast though.

The same would go for things like [D-fQ] or [F-fQ].

Oh that's neat; gives a nice shorthand way of describing the likes of Tripunch pieces.

Though it's perhaps not 100% clear (which might be what H.G. was getting at?) how this interacts with e.g. `[K-fsQ] for the gorgon (gryphon/manticore compound)

Gilman (in Diverse Directions) names those pieces Mara and Capybara, the largest of the rodents (to go with the established Squirrel and his Beaver for Silverman's/Cazaux's Cheetah)

While thinking this I came up with a compound leaper where the (m,n) pair is any irreducible fraction

Iirc this is the Problemists' Wizard, also found in one of the later Man and Beasts. Indeed, its rider the Witch (as explained by H.G.) has only nonintersecting rides.

I haven't read this in detail, and I'll admit I find long(‐ish) lists of pieces in alphabetical order difficult to make sense of (I've long held alphabetical order is horrible for everything other than dictionaries and list numbering) so I'll definitely have missed some things. A couple of cursory reactions though:

The double promotion thing is rare but neat, and having different pieces promote in different ways (even if to the limited extent it is here) likewise. I wonder a little bit about the memorability of some of the promotions, but then part of that will be lack of familiarity with the pieces themselves, and anyways the large Shōgis have it several times worse

Is the Bodyguard's Hia power even possible in the Interactive Diagrams?

Unless H.G. adds it as a Spell (I don't think he has already?) I expect not without effectively doing the same yourself

I admittedly am only about 98% sure I got his intention right on how [the Satrap] moves

I think I'm with the 2%; Gilman gives the Satrap as Steward+Steamer, the latter of which is mDcA (giving his “Wazbaba[…] capturing as a Fearful”), rather than what you seem to have taken to be mFcD which is the Stevedore. What you describe (fmWcD) is a nonroyal version of the Echidna (from Outback Chess), or Pawned Prince (using M&B terms), which lacks an atomic name.

Ofc it's up to you whether you want to keep the name and switch the piece, or keep (assuming you don't deem it too out of place — fwiw it seems fine to me) the piece and (presumably, to avoid confusion — even if with a nigh‐impenetrable source) adjust the name

Will move diagrams be needed, or are the text descriptions enough?

With the large number of unfamiliar pieces, it's probably worth at least putting each piece's image next to its name in the Pieces section; probably the moves themselves are mostly simple enough to get away w/o full diagrammes, especially since the long limited‐range moves would leave some of them arguably a bit unwieldy.

I would tend to suggest, though (as alluded to above), to order the pieces in some way more meaningful than alphabetical order; just grouping counterparts together would do a lot to give the piece list more structure and make it easier to follow imo

I personally like the second one better, but I rather expect that most people will prefer the first

Fwiw even for those who like the second figurine better, the first is not w/o its uses: it's a practically perfect match for the Orphan

Contravention seems like a much more playable relative of Parton's Contramatic (from Curiouser and Curiouser) with an orthodox set, if less conceptually pure. Ought to be worth a shot

Just got a chance to read through this; some things I noticed:

Melek is Arabic for "king,"

Which dialect is that? I can only find مَلِك (malik) — or, perhaps closer, Hebrew מֶלֶךְ (melech)

[The Emir] is borrowed from Robert Shimmin's game Scheherezade

Afaict it looks like this piece, as well as most of the other Scheherazade [sic] ‘Queens’, was not actually named by Shimmin; H.G. needed names for the ID. Not really sure how best to cite such a thing though

I'm actually not sure where the Snake originated

Betza's Bent Riders article. The shortening to ‘Snake’ is due either to Jean‐Louis or to Eric Silverman, first attested on these pages here

The Satrap moves [as mFmAcWcD]

I assume it's an oversight that you've switched the capturing and non‐capturing moves — Gilman's Satrap operates in pawn/steward directions. Not a big deal ofc; you can trivially swap the Satrap's and Ayatollah's names

the earliest place where I can find [the Arabic/Arabian Spear] is in Hans Bodlander's game Pick-the-Team Chess

Note that in that game, the Arabic Spear is divergent in pawn directions (i.e. it's a mfRcfB or ‘Pawnrider’). The nondivergent piece you describe I remember only as the Princess of several Gilman games, but I'd be surprised if a piece w/ that move wasn't in the larger Shōgis too

As noted in the Piececlopedia, the word "pawn" has its origin in the Sanskrit word "padati"

Pedantically speaking, the word itself only goes back as far as Late Latin pedōnem (pedestrian or footsoldier), albeit as an indirect calque (in French) going back to the Sanskrit term

The emphasis on Camel leaps is certainly striking!

pending someone pointing out that those moves are already in a game somewhere under some other name

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 ;‌)