Comments/Ratings for a Single Item

142. Stewardess. This creation of Charles Gilman's is part of the tradition (which I explored a couple of weeks ago with the Girlfriend and Boyfriend) of assigning female names to sliders that correspond with male-named steppers. In this case, the Steward moves like a four-way Pawn, stepping one space orthogonally or capturing one space diagonally. The Stewardess uses the same directions, but sliding. (mRcB)

As much as I like this piece, I haven't used it in a game yet -- not even Dealer's Chess. I'll go into the reasons for that tomorrow.

The piece is based on my Steward piece, which is Pawn-sized with the sphere and cross on top. For the Stewardess, I simply added height, plus the triangles to make sure it was distinctive. I might someday break down and build an alternate design, evocative of an airline stewardess.

143. Counterstewardess. This is the rotary companion to yesterday's Stewardess; it moves like a Bishop, or captures like a Rook. (mBcR)

The five-syllable name that Gilman gave the piece is, however, a bit of a kludge. I've been happy to use the Steward since the Countersteward can also be a Guardian, but I don't know what the Counterstewardess would be in that context (Guardienne, perhaps, though I'm pretty sure that's a neologism, probably with badly mixed etymology).

The Stewardess can also be called the Roshop, with this as the Biok; however, I prefer to keep mashed-up names like that for Hunters (my probably-incorrect name for pieces with different forward and backward moves). The Counterstewardess is also sometimes called an Ensign, which is fine on its own* but doesn't really contrast with any of the Stewardess' alternate names (Guard and the German Trabant are the ones I know of).

The lack of a good name for this piece is the main reason why I haven't dropped these two into Dealer's Chess.

The design for this was approached the same way as for the Stewardess; the cross is simply replaced by a cube, to differentiate the two.

*Admiral, Commander, Ensign, and Ship could be used together for a naval-themed game.

The lack of a good name for this piece is the main reason why I haven't dropped these two into Dealer's Chess.

*Admiral, Commander, Ensign, and Ship could be used together for a naval-themed game.

Remind of my Motorcyclist from Modern Repub.

In addition, it has the same "stinging move" that [other pieces in the game have], but only on the squares diagonally adjacent to it. That is, it can step one square diagonally, and if that move captures something, it can then optionally make a second, non-capturing step in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. (FvWfAvsca(b)1mK)

That "stinging move," or "sting capture," is something I haven't really seen anywhere else, though I've adapted it for a couple of my Tifinagh pieces and probably will use it for other things as well.

I have the Radioactive Queen in RQC that does this after any short-distanced move. 

144. Reaper and 145. Harvester. These are not new or obscure pieces, but quite familiar to most chess variant aficionados. I just haven't seen much in the way of physical piece designs for them. (I also think that each deserves a Piececlopedia article.)

The Reaper combines the Griffin and Rook; basically, it moves to any adjacent square, then continues outward orthogonally. (R[F?R])

The Harvester combines the Rhinoceros and Bishop; basically, it moves to any adjacent square, then continues outward diagonally. (B[W?B])

There's also a piece called a Combine, which combines both of these moves, though I haven't figured out a piece design for that.

I recognize that I probably need to thicken these somewhat, especially the blades (and most especially the Harvester's blade), but other than that I think the designs are pretty fitting.

Hmm, I wouldn't use these designs. Reaper and Harvester are quite strong on the board, they cannot be represented by these fragile sticks.

I suppose I could "beef them up" by adding a Man figure, holding each weapon.

Yes, it could be a good solution. These pieces dominate any board. Have you thought of the "Godzilla", i.e. Gryphon+Rhinoceros? This one too plays in the same division.

I'm rather resistant to the Godzilla -- at least under that name, which I believe is actually Trademarked. It certainly would fall under that category of Very Powerful Pieces, like the Tengu, Helepolis, or Sniper (as opposed to Obscenely Powerful like the Thunder, Virtuoso, Sphinx, or Ubi-Ubi -- and we probably could actually start a discussion on what should be in which category). If there was a better name for it, I'd hold it up proudly. (Is Chimera taken? Horned Dragon?)

Anyway, here's what I was able to do with these two:

They're still sized slightly taller than a Queen (87.5mm, vs 85mm), so they should look impressive enough.

146. Harpoon. I originally made this piece because I saw the icon, was working on Aquachess, and didn't have any information (at the time) about anyone else using a Harpoon in a variant. I ended up not using it for that game, but I have it in my collection so I'm putting it into a couple of my games.

The Harpoon can move or capture up to four spaces in any diagonal or orthogonal direction, or rifle capture two spaces away. (Q4cabDcabNcabA)

It's a fairly powerful piece (it can capture on the sliding moves), so should go somewhere toward the back of a large array. It can be weakened by a large board, though, or by the presence of extra unlimited sliders.

I don't recall whether this one is a remix of someone else's harpoon, or built by me; I think it's the latter, but if it isn't I'll be making one fairly soon.

147. Foursquare. Yet another invention of Adrian King (see Jupiter), the Foursquare can step one space diagonally, or leap like a Knight (1,2), Camel (1,3), Zebra (2,3), or Tripper (3,3). (FNCZG)

As you can probably see, the diagram shows the destinationis in the shape of four squares; hence the name. The physical piece design follows that logic.

148. Four-Diamond. Right after I posted the Foursquare yesterday, I happened to look at a list of pieces that I'd made (which are becoming the centerpiece of a new variant) that are rotary counterparts to existing pieces. It occurred to me that the Foursquare had none.

The Four-Diamond moves one square orthogonally, or leaps like a Knight (1,2), Zebra (2,3), Giraffe (1,4), or Fiveleaper (0,5). (WNZFXDX)

This gives it a greater reach than the Foursquare has, but it has larger gaps in its area of influence. It's also a color-switcher, which isn't as limiting as being colorbound but still makes the piece less flexible.

149. Swordfish. This is a simple piece of my own creation, which simply moves two spaces in any direction. (Q2)

The only other piece I could find that does this is the Bodyguard, which has its Hia power, so the Swordfish fills that gap. (That said, if there are any others, I'd like to know about them; the Swordfish is mostly good only for water-themed games!)

150. Mecklenbeck Pawn. Thanks to Lev Grigoriev for catching me mistakenly posting the Virtuoso a second time! I should've looked at my list more closely.

In its place, I'll just post something much simpler: the Mecklenbeck Pawn. Its move is just the same as a regular Pawn (hence no diagram); the difference is that, while a regular Pawn promotes at the furthest row (8th, on a standard chess boardf), the Mecklenbeck may graduate one or two rows earlier.

Since this doesn't affect movement, nearly any Pawn can be converted into a Mecklenbeck version, so the only difference I gave it is a ring around the center.

I forgot to post yesterday's Piece of the Day, so...

132. Virtuoso. I initially proposed Virtuoso as an alternate name for an Amazonrider, but then I realized that the Virtuoso needed to be something truly broad. So, it's more than just a Queen plus Nightrider; it's basically a Queen plus Buffalorider. (QNNCCZZ)

150. Virtuoso. Initially I started using this name as an alternate for the Amazonrider. Then I settled on Centauride, and found a need to expand the name, so I compounded not just the Queen and Nightrider but also the Camelrider and Zebrarider. (QNNCCZZ)

...I also like music... but bruh)

Thanks for the catch. I'll replace today's a little later on.

I have a suggestion for you now (and many of them later))). This is Astra (aka Astral leaper or Altleaper). It's already used in unknown (and really written in 20 minutes when each of them could be the last) GC preset of my own CwDA, and in one of my most favourite (non-square) inventions - Rocket Chess! 

However, its shining debut is still not happened...

...and it's probably the most or one of the most successful example of amphiby synergy...

I may just include the Astra at some point, and look more closely at that that preset as well.

Meanwhile, I've replaced my erroneous Virtuoso with the Mecklenbeck Pawn.

151. Little Elephant. and 152. Little Tiger. These two pieces first appeared (without the word "little") in Greg Strong's game Cataclysm, and subsequently borrowed for my own Short Sliders (and the Leapers Who Love Them) (again, as just Elephant and Tiger). I added the word "little" for purposes of my piece list because other pieces exist by the same name with more powerful moves, but it's really only needed if the same game has another type of piece by that name. (Alternatively, they can be the Strong Elephant and Strong Tiger.)

The Little Elephant moves up to four spaces diagonally, or one orthogonally. (B4W)

The Little Tiger does the opposite: it moves up to four spaces orthogonally, or one diagonally. (R4F)

I can see many cases where these two pieces can be fun to have around; they're versatile, but not overly powerful.

153. Yellow Knight. This inspiration came to me over the weekend. This piece has the front-half move of a Knight, and is perfectly normal in that regard. However, it's even better at retreating: it moves (without capture) backwards like a Camel (1,3), or a Giraffe (1,4), or an Ibis (1,5). (fhNmbCmbFXmbNX)

This piece is something that I put into my "Mostly for Laughs" collection -- "mostly," because someone might actually find a use for it in a game. (It might actually work on a large-board Shogi variant.)

A good look at the physical piece design should tell you why I decided against including the Flamingo (1,6) in its retreat.

154. Arabian Spear. Most of the time, if you see this piece, it's called "Arabic Spear" or just "Spear"; technically, though, "Arabian" is the proper form of the former, and (at least for me) a linguistic modifier is needed to distinguish it from other types of Spear.

Essentially, a Spear is a "Pawnrider," sliding in a way that a pawn moves just one space. This means that most variant types of Pawn can be converted into a Spear; the Arabian Spear is the version of the orthodox Pawn (what I like to call a Standard Pawn). That is, it moves without capture straight ahead like a Rook (instead of a Wazir), or captures by sliding diagonally forward like a Bishop (instead of a Ferz). (mfRcfB)

This also means that there is no "initial bonus move" for a Spear, as there is with most Pawns, so Pawn types that change that move (such as the Mongolian Pawn or Weak Pawn) don't have a Spear counterpart. However, Spears do (typically) promote like Pawns.

As I look at this now, I'm reminded of an issue I had with that tip while testing it in my slicer, and I think this may need reworking. The solution that comes to mind is to simply eliminate the shaft and let the spear end take up the entire height. That would affect all of the other Spears in my collection, though.

155. Free Demon. Another piece from the Seireigi family of Shogi variants, the Free Demon is a piece that I'd tend to include as a "Spear" in one of my games, since it has a much stronger forward move than backward. It can step one space or jump two spaces diagonally backward, or slide diagonally forward like a Bishop. In the latter case, it may jump over one or two obstacles in its path. (bFbAfBfpBfpapB)

Whatever its function, I think this piece would be welcome on any large-board game.

However, [the Astra's] shining debut is still not happened...

Well, the piece itself has turned up before, in a couple of minor Gilmans; it's the Newt there, following Problemist usage (extrapolating Frog)

It's funny that Demons are being considered for chess variants, but when I wanted to make a game about Watchers, some people got uneasy on religious grounds. So, my question is, if the Demons are OK, what's wrong with the Watchers?

It's context. In the west, we are immersed in the context of Christianity whether we are Christian or not, whereas Shinto, if we're aware of it at all, is mainly some foreign fairy tale stuff we may know mainly from anime like Inuyasha. When it comes to supernatural beings in Shinto, "demon" is just a western translation, and since Shinto is very different from Christianity, it's not really an exact translation.