Comments/Ratings for a Single Item

11. Hangman. The Hangman moves like a King, but similar to the Withdrawer, captures by moving away from an enemy piece.

I'm still working on the XBetza code; KcaibaK is what I think would work.

(I originally designed this piece as a Rope for a chess variant based on Clue.)

Can you draw please something like my Zip from Horizons?

Can you draw please something like my Zip from Horizons?

Building the piece? I'll see what I can figure out. The name Zip doesn't really conjure up a strong image, but maybe something will come to me.

Zip aka Lightning, watch the diagram with my graphics in comments if you want)

Really comeback)))))

OK, I think I figured out something, and I'll put it here tomorrow.

Have you tried to print such a piece? In my opinion the result won't be good.

Right now my 3D printer isn't working, but the design I found should come out fine.

Have you tried to print such a piece? In my opinion the result won't be good.

   It occurred to me only just now that you may have been referring to the Hangman, not the Zip. Indeed, I can see your concern, but I've found that a minimum of 2.5mm can be considered reasonably sturdy in PLA, and the rope is 3mm in diameter if printed full size. (Still, I'd store it carefully, and wouldn't be too rough with it.)

KcaibaK (for the Hangman) would make the capture optional (and allow removal of any adjacent piece, rather than just the one in the opposit direction of the move): the K part would also allow moving away from an enemy without capturing it. Note the i is redundant here; it would only be needed on slider atoms to force equal path length of two legs, and K is a leaper atom. This is not what an Ultima Withdrawer does; there the capture is a mandatory side effect, and moving without capture is only allowed if there is nothing to capture.

This can be achieved by (as an alternative for capture) include detour moves (without side effect) that are allowed on empty squares, friendly pieces or off board (which together cover all possibilities): mcoabafKdaubafK. This uses the dau kludge as a means to specify friendly hopping, as using p here would again make the capture optional. A future improved notattion for this would be ccabK: eliminate an enemy a K step away, and then another K move in the opposit direction. (Note that this can be another capture; if this is not wanted it should be ccabmK.)

Based on my experience with PLA wire, I think this piece will need many supports, to be removed after printing. The piece itself looks very fragile, I would even expect it breaks when you will remove the supports. Or later on, when using it or in its storage box. Just saying.

And the knot leaves much to be desired. This is not how you would make a noose.

Re: The Hangman's move: My intention is that the capture is optional. So it seems that mKmcoabafKdaubafK would be the way to go.

Based on my experience with PLA wire, I think this piece will need many supports, to be removed after printing. The piece itself looks very fragile, I would even expect it breaks when you will remove the supports. Or later on, when using it or in its storage box. Just saying.

It might. But I do have another (completely unrelated) print with a part that thin that lasted 3 years before breaking, and that's just one of five.

As for supports, I'd assume that such would be needed. I'd recommend using tree supports, even though it'd require more support material. And, if possible, using specialized support filament.

And the knot leaves much to be desired. This is not how you would make a noose.

I call this the Department of Whatcha Gonna Do. It was the best I could find. (That said, I may update it later after making my own... though I have little confidence in that.)

12. Zip. Also referred to as Lightning, this piece can move one or two spaces orthogonally, and then continue outward with alternating diagonal and orthogonal moves, somewhat like a lame Nightrider.

This was created by request from Lev Grigoriev for his game Horizons.

(The 2.5mm rule discussed with the Hangman applies here; the joint between the lightning bolt and the base is 3mm wide. Still, the size of the bolt may make it a bit more subject to breakage, so I may rework it to make that joint stronger.)

This reminds me of the piece (or actually a family of pieces) that used to be called Rhino, before  people started to use that symbol and name for the W-then-B. This differs from your Zip by already bending after the first step. (Which is actually more regular; the path you indicate bends at every step except the first.)

It also reminds me of the rhino!

This reminds me of the piece (or actually a family of pieces) that used to be called Rhino, before  people started to use that symbol and name for the W-then-B. This differs from your Zip by already bending after the first step. (Which is actually more regular; the path you indicate bends at every step except the first.)

It's a little like those, yes; I had similar thoughts, though really I think it's closer to [W?nNN] -- a variation on the modern Rhino. The difference from that is that the Zip's moves are strictly defined, and it can stop halfway through a Knight's leap.

It's that extra orthogonal move at the start that makes this piece distinctive. I do think that it would be an interesting piece to see running around the board.

About image — this is good, however you can also draw another image to probably invert the lightning standing on the fundament and make it less angles (not three but two).

That is how it looks in my imagination…

By "invert," do you mean to flip it over top-to-bottom?

I'm not sure about making it fewer zig-zags; there's a lot of complicated stuff that would be involved with not just taking out the third (that's a stock lightning bolt, not homemade), but also making sure the piece has the appropriate height and diameter.

With Tinkercad, flipping, removing a third, adjusting height and diameter are more than easy. No complicated stuff. But is there an interest to do it? Are you really going to 3D-print out all these figurines that you are drawing? Or your intention is just to draw them?

If you need it, I can make it for you

I don't know about all; it's true that many of the pieces I'm building and putting on Thingiverse are merely proposals (the Gerbil and Anteater are among those, as is the piece that I'll be putting up here in a few minutes). But most of them I do want to build, especially those for Vanguard, Aquachess, and a couple other variants I'm doing (my huge project, plus variants based on Clue and Winnie the Pooh). Before I can do that, though, I'll need to either fix my printer or hire someone like makexyz.

And yeah, removing a portion of the lightning bolt wouldn't actually be terribly complicated; I overstated the matter. It mainly depends on what Lev actually wants.

12. Thunder. This is the best I could figure out from the Thunderer in Charles Gilman's Man and Beast articles, which is listed as a square-board piece even though one of the pieces that combine for it (the Tradewind) is one of his cubic/hex-prism pieces. I'm mainly guessing at his intent here, but I do find it interesting.

The Thunder, to start with, has all the moves of the Queen and Nightrider. It also can leap two spaces orthogonally or diagonally, and then may turn 45 degrees to move outward like a Bishop or Rook (respectively).

This is an extraordinarily powerful piece; see how it utterly dominates even this 15x15 board? Only the threat of capture can restrain it once it's in the field.

One way to restrain it would be to make it a promotion-only piece, and given that yesterday's Zip is also called Lightning, it seems like a logical candidate for what it could promote from. (In fact, it was putting up the Zip that led me to do this one today.)

I actually built this originally just as a private joke, and hadn't even intended to put it on Thingiverse until I saw what the move looked like; I put it there more for that than anything else. Despite its being overwhelmingly powerful, the move diagram has an interesting symmetry.

It also occurred to me that one could use this as the starting point for a chess variant with the potential for being truly (ahem) marvelous.

If you need it, I can make it for you

Who was this directed toward?

to you, Bob