Comments/Ratings for a Single Item

44. Turtle. The Turtle is something I stumbled across on Ivan Derzhanski's Who is Who on Eight by Eight article. He credits it to a game called Demiurge, and while I can find no other information about that game, I think it makes for a very interesting piece that could add to many games.

It can move up four spaces outward like a Queen, but also leap to the second square on any of those lines (Q4AD).

OK, so it does create a little bit of a headache for the diagram; but at least you know where it's going.

I will say that I had a dickens of a time getting this to look like a turtle and not a bird. Only when I slanted the flippers back did I meet with even this limited success. (Trying to include the shell makes things even more awkward.)

45. Round. The Round is another piece whose name is defined by its move, even if the order did come the other way around. It combines the move of the Rook, Knight, and Dabbabah, but the Knight move (and only the Knight move) has two special properties: one, it can go off the left or right edge of the board and go to the other side as if it were a cylinder; and two, instead of capturing an enemy piece, it switches places. (RouND)

I wasn't quite sure how to represent the piece's ability to wrap around left-to-right; this was my best guess.

I actually have two models for this piece: one based on its name, and the other on its move. I personally like the second one better, but I rather expect that most people will prefer the first.

(The arrow is actually a double-headed arrow, pointing both ways to indicate the ability to "loop" around left and right.)

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

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

Quite true (though I created a separate Orphan piece as well)!

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.

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).

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 ;‌)

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.

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.

I can't find his Camel + Antelope, though

CNY is Hajj, listed right after the hovercraft. Which is really at the point where he's starting to stretch for names imo, given ꝥ it's a proper noun. Cantaloupe seems fine to me (and can even extrapolate to Zentaloupe(=Gilman's Sajj) ⁊c. for those so inclined)

Throw in the Mushroom and Falafel, and we have the makings of a Food Fight game!

Pizza Kings for duodecimal CwDA? ;‌P

You are definitely the Master Piecefinder. ;)

I've been here a while ;‌) (and someone has to take over from George Duke…)

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.

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.

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. :)

It reminds to me that I had a piece with a gun as symbol in a game I invented long time ago, Invasion.

https://www.chessvariants.com/large.dir/contest84/invasion/index.html

This game is forgotten. Too bad, it was very pleasant to play with Zillions. Maybe a ID is possible to code? I'm afraid I'm not skilled enough.

This game is forgotten. Too bad, it was very pleasant to play with Zillions. Maybe a ID is possible to code? I'm afraid I'm not skilled enough.

I came across the game the other day, and was thinking of adding a few of the pieces to my collection. An ID should be doable, though; I'l make one and post it in a comment there, but I wouldn't be sure how to code the Tank or Bomb.

I'l make one and post it in a comment there, but I wouldn't be sure how to code the Tank or Bomb.

Tank is easy: (mcdaf)4mcdW.

The Bomb is problematic. For one, the ID does not implement drops. Something very similar can be achieved by having a Flag promote to Bomb on reaching the corner (with the aid of a morph), define the Bomb as Universal Leaper (U), and in the captureMatrix define an atomic explosion for it (@) that exempts the HQ. (By defining the HQ as first piece, and using atomicCapture=1.) You then have to make the Troopers promote through a morph too.

The difference is that theis would make the Flag disappear when you throw the Bomb. This can currently only be fixed by adding a small custom script that modifies all Bomb moves such that they leave a non-promoting flag at the square of origin.

BTW, the role of the central sea is not entirely clear to me. The piece section states that HQ and Flag cannot move through the sea, but it says no such thing about other pieces that have sliding moves.

@HG for Invasion: at the top of the page, the board is defined as: The board has 84 squares formed by a 10x10 field with a central 4x4 sea where no piece can enter, stand or play.

Pieces cannot slide through the sea. (For coding in ZoG, the corresponding squares were neutralized)

52. Zombie Pawn. After Bn Em made a positive comment about this piece in its debut in Dealer's Chess, I thought I'd put this one up here for general consumption.

The Zombie Pawn moves and captures one space directly or diagonally forward, or may move without capture one space backward. It doesn't get any extra spaces for an opening move, though it's still capable of en passant, and it does promote. (efFefWmbW)

It's also contagious: any piece that captures it is turned into a Zombie Pawn (though it doesn't change color). Where possible, rifle captures and withdrawing captures should be exempt from this, as should "captures" that are actually swaps, pushes, pulls, or other types of forced move.

So if I well understand: if a Black Queen captures a White Zombie Pawn, White has lost a Zombie Pawn and Black has gained one but has also lost a Queen!

Correct?

Also, what happens if Black King captures a White Zombie Pawn? Is that forbidden, otherwise the King disappears? Then, is the ZP immune from King's capture?

Black Queen vs White Zombie Pawn: You are correct.

Black King vs White Zombie Pawn: This would be forbidden, as it would throw the game. So, yes, the ZP is effectively immune from capture by the King (unless the King is somehow immune to the zombie virus!).

Tank is easy: (mcdaf)4mcdW.

I got to thinking about this, and the Helepolis, which I've settled on being able to move sideways and mow down any enemy pieces in its path (it has a normal Rook move forward and backward). So if I'm figuring this right, that part of its Betza would be s(mcdaf)#mcdW, where # is the number of the columns on the board, minus two.

Well, the d would also allow it to mow down friendly pieces. For just enemies it would be s(mcaf)#W.