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Treeleaders Chess. Large variant with non-similar armies. (9x10, Cells: 90) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]<u>The Gnu Song</u> is by Flanders & Swann, and can be found here:
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<li><a href='http://www.poppyfields.net/poppy/songs/gnu.html'>http://www.poppyfields.net/poppy/songs/gnu.html</a>
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Erez Schatz wrote on Fri, Nov 28, 2003 09:10 AM UTC:Thanks, this is where I found that one :) The Gnu section did give me a hard time.
Erez Schatz wrote on Sun, Feb 29, 2004 03:17 PM UTC:A suggestion by Uri Bruck, the Sergeants double-step first move can be either 2 squares forward, or two squares diagonally forward.
'Nor am I in the least like that dreadful hearty beast' - Hartebeest, actually. Never misspell the name of a creature with larger horns than you have.
Had I known that choosing that particular song would raise such an uproar...
Charles Gilman wrote on Tue, Sep 7, 2004 08:27 AM UTC:The Poppyfields version of the song seems to have been written down from listening to it sung, as the lyrics as originally written do indeed have 'Hartebeest'. It also has 'k-now' for 'g-know' and the geographically correct 'Ashton' for 'Aston'! Finally it may be worth noting that 'g-nicest' is a pun on the geological term gneiss.
Erez Schatz wrote on Wed, Sep 8, 2004 07:26 AM UTC:I'm not really familiar with the original song, to be perfectly honest, but I appreciate the information. Apart from my questionable choice of nursery rhymes, how did you like the game?
Charles Gilman wrote on Wed, Sep 15, 2004 07:51 AM UTC:As you ask, there is the usual problem with arranging colourbound pieces symmetrically on an odd number of files. There are also a few presentational errors - 'orthogonally and vertically', and the depiction of the Cannon by a symbol usually used for its diagonal counterpart. Sorry that the first comment on the game itself is no negative.
Hardly negative, I finally get some information on how the game is actually perceived. The colourbound pieces were intentionally placed symmetrically, as it creates an interesting balance, both thematically and technically. The Vampires are a very strong piece, weakened by the movement stipulation and by colourbounding. Placing the Vampires on white and black would give the two pieces over-dominancy in the game. This also made me decide to keep the Bishops on same-colour squares. I tried fiddling with a bit off-conservative ideas, like different armies and a board that is not nXn, and it does has its advantages, but also its disadvantages. As for the presentation, ignoring the typo, the alfaerie pieces are always a manner of hit and miss, I chose the diagonal cannon image since that one at least resembled a cannon, unlike the others. Still thanx for the comment, and I hope you enjoyed playing the game.
Typo fixed, On the same manner, are there any known example of what you referred to as the usual problem of colourbound pieces on odd number files? Would be interesting to see how others tackled this issue.
In 1889 Ben Foster wrote a book 'Chancellor Chess.' The game is played on a 9x9 board, with the setup RNBQKCNBR. All the pawns are defended and the Bishops are on both light and dark squares.
In 1983 Carlos Cetina proposed 'The Bishops Conversion Rule', which has its own web page on this site. Briefly, one of your Bishops makes its first move in the game: exactly one square horizontally or vertically.
Two games with 11 columns take a new approach. Mainzer Schach places Bishops on the c-file and d-file, and Knights on the h-file and i-file. R. Wayne Schmittberger's Wildebeest Chess has White Bishops and Black Camels on the c-file and d-file, because the setup reverses the placement of the Black pieces.
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