Comments/Ratings for a Single Item

Thanks, Jean-Louis; I'm pretty sure that's where I saw those before. And unfortunately, the Star is already an alternate for the Sorceress (mQcpQ), and Dragons are, well, pretty ubiquitous.

164. Grasshopper. I finish out this week of new-to-me/old-to-you pieces with one that I didn't even figure out how to model until yesterday afternoon.

The Grasshopper moves along a Queen's lines, but must jump over another piece, and lands on the first space beyond the hurdle.

The White Grasshopper here can jump over the White Pawn, Bishop, or Knight, or the Black Pawn or the first Black Rook. It can capture the Black Knight or the second Black Rook, but not the Black Bishop because it's too far away.

(I did get that right, didn't I?)

I do think, though, that I got the piece right.

@Bob: you know I am guilty because I was the first to call the Leo invented 100 years ago by the problemists (mQcpQ) a Star. Later on, I found a star was a bizarre name for a CV and I change it for Sorceress while keeping the star as an icon. (And you have seen the 3D piece I printed with a hat with a star).

Otherwise for Star and Dragon in this very large bent-riders variant, I agree with you. Maybe Daniel Z was a bit short of inspiration (?). Let's see if he sees this comment, if he wishes to propose alternate names for these 2 pieces he was the first to use in a CV.

Well, I'm already looking at the Astrologer's counterpart being the Astronomer (and I've even figured out a piece for it). An animal to go opposite the Tiger is all I still need; I'm inclined to go with a large rodent, but I think even Capybara is taken somewhere. Coypu (aka Nutria), perhaps?

Let's Daniel react.

Yes your piece is a good idea

165. Morningstar and 166. Faith Healer. I'm going to close out the year with something that is, as far as I can determine, very new. I call it "curved slider." (I'd call it completely new, but a couple of my Tifinagh pieces qualify for this.) A curved slider is simply a doubly-bent rider that has two 45-degree bends at the start of its move, both in the same direction. These two are the most basic of the type.

The Morningstar is the orthogonal half of the pair. It starts by moving one step orthogonally, then turning 45 degrees to move one step diagonally, then turning 45 degrees again in the same direction and proceeding like a Rook. ([W?F?qfR])

The logic behind the Morningstar name is that the piece goes around the opponent's defenses, which the morningstar weapon was designed to do with its long chain.

Take a military piece, turn it 45 degrees, and traditionally you get an ecumenical piece; performing this "end run" tactic seems to me like the scope of a Faith Healer. This piece moves one step diagonally, makes a 45 degree turn to move one step orthogonally, and then turns another 45 degrees to proceed diagaonally like a Bishop. ([F?W?qfB])

Such pieces are probably only good on large boards (12x12 or more) unless compounded with something else. I am, in fact, already working up an idea for a game that would use them.

As for the 3D designs, I'm not entirely satisfied with either one, though in the Morningstar's case it's an adjustment by necessity.

The Faith Healer's figure is supposedly topped by dramatically-stretched seven-pointed stars, though all the sharp edges makes it look more like a military piece. I don't know what else to do for it, though.

167. Dagger. It's been a long while since I featured a piece meant for my (eventual) Clue-based variant. The Hangman (Rope) was one of my earliest (actually #10 even though it says #11) and the Gunman (Revolver) came a bit later (at #51), while Poison (one of the "extended game" weapons) came in between (#25).

The Dagger -- called that in the UK's Cluedo, while in the US's Clue the weapon is called Knife -- is one of the six original weapons of the game. In chess, there's even a history of daggers appearing, though not with any consistent move that I can find. My inclination is to let it move without capture two squares in any direction, or one square with an "advance capture" (rifle capture in the same direction) to the second. (mK2mafcabK)

Any comments regarding the move will be taken seriously, especially if I got the XBetza wrong or if another game has a more appropriate move. (And my apologies for the diagram above not quite matching the description.)

And while I'm on the topic, I did make an improved version of the Hangman/Rope/Noose:

168. Candlestick. Since it's been so long since my last Clue-inspired pieces, I might as well do two in a row.

A problem I had with the remaining three classic weapons -- the candlestick, the lead pipe, and the wrench -- is that, in the Clue context, they're all bashing weapons, and I'm wanting distinctive moves for the three, while keeping their relative power about equal. I wasn't sure how to do that, though; this is my best guess for this piece.

Rather than going with the bashing, I thought to base the Candlestick on the candle's flame (giving it an alternate name of Arsonist). It moves up to two spaces in any direction, but captures only by passing "through" its target. (mK2cafmK)

Though the piece model is nearly identical to the Candlestick Maker that I featured back in October (the main difference being the latter's noticeably larger size), it's a distinctive and separate piece.

169. N2R4. A while ago there was some discussion of pieces whose names are based purely on their moves, and how to make pieces based on that. This is one of the more extreme cases, and my take on it.

N2R4 (though it sounds like a droid out of Star Wars) does exactly what the name says: it slides up to four spaces orthogonally like a Rook, or makes one or two (1,2) leaps in a straight line.

It does look rather like an attempt at making the diagram look like a clock face, so an alternate name could be based on that.

The figure is so "on point," I could probably remove the digits and make an alternate form of the Chancellor out of it.

170. Astrologer. Found in Daniel Zacharias's Tiger Chess, the Astrologer leaps (1,3) like a Camel, where it may either stay or continue outwards diagonally, sliding like a Bishop. ([C?B])

I don't know if anyone has ever analyzed how well it works in early/middle/end game, but it strikes me as something whose utility is high early on and declines toward the end.

171. Astronomer. A rotary counterpart to the Astrologer, this piece is probably more familiar as a Star. While that's not a horrible name by any stretch, I think that Astronomer is more fitting; changing a Bishop's move to a Rook's changes a piece from ecumenical/spiritual to secular, and an astronomer is a secular counterpart to an astrologer.

The basic move is, of course, a Camel's (1,3) leap, optionally followed by a Rook's orthogonal slide away. ([C?R])

This is another piece that would be more comfortable on a larger board than a smaller one.

The model is supposed to be a non-proportional representation of an observatory.

It occurred to me late yesterday that it wouldn't hurt to make a Star model as an alternate form, and I'll probably do that some time today.

172. Warlord. and 173. Warpriest. Like the last two, this weekend's pair consists of one piece invented by someone else, and a rotary counterpart created by myself.

The Warlord comes from Jason Wittman's (rather underrated) game Mad Chess. It makes a (1,2) leap like a Knight, or leaps three spaces orthogonally.

The Warpriest also can make the (1,2) leap, but instead of leaping orthogonally it leaps three spaces diagonally.

I've included the Warpriest in my game Rotary Chess, alongside several other rotary additions I've created, and while some of the others (like Sniff and Mongoose) are somewhat less powerful than their brethren, the Warpriest is surprisingly formidable.

I think, on the whole, that the models came out fairly well.

174. Yaksha. This is a piece that's fascinated me since I first saw it listed on Wikipedia's List of Fairy Chess Pieces, initially because of the name (it's the only piece I've come across whose name starts with Y) but also because of the concept of what a yaksha actually is: a guardian nature spirit in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.

In this site's page on Taikyoku Shogi, the game from that Wikipedia cites as this piece's origin, it's called a Night Sword.

The Yaksha moves one space directly backward or diagonally forward, or slides up to three spaces sideways. (fFbWsW3)

The Yaksha being a guardian spirit is fitting, as it's mainly a lateral mover and so works best as a defensive piece.

The piece's appearance is actually what hung me up for so many months. I finally just took a look at the various yaksha statues I found in an image search on Bing, and did (or, rather, attempted) something similar to those. Also, unintentionally, the figure also works for the Night Sword name.

Re

Do you take notes on these things, or something? :D

I'm actually a really atrocious note‐taker — never learned to do it and never found much need; I have a good memory and that's easier to look up that written notes. That plus the search engine(s), having been here 10+ years at this point iirc (active for nearly 10), and in Gilman's case the fact that for all its density his stuff's actually pretty well organised once you get the hang of it, is quite plenty to build up a bit of context

Ofc the cute ‘Infanta de Castille’ pun does actually make that an unusually mnemonic name for the RA, even by Gilman standards; I always found ‘Inquisitor’ the harder one to remember

175. Luna Pawn. Somewhere along all this, Hirosi Kano brought this piece to my attention. I've been certain of its presence in a game of his called Luna Chess, but now I can find neither the game nor any other reference to the piece. Still, Hirosi deserves credit for either inventing or discovering it. I really like it; it'd be very welcome in a largish moon-themed variant.

The Luna Pawn moves without capture one space directly forward or backward, and can capture not only into the spaces diagonally forward, but also a Camel's (1,3) leap forward. (cvWmfFmffC)

This is (obviously) somewhat more powerful than a standard Pawn, especially with the Camel captures. It'd cause chaos on a normal-sized 8x8 board, but on a larger board (12x12 and up) I think the impact would be less. And I do think it would make for a very interesting dynamic.

I really should figure out a way to index all of my original pieces (as opposed to those invented by others that I'm merely promoting, or things that are mere enhancements or derivatives of existing pieces).

As for the Inquisitor name, I chose that and Retriever because they follow along traditional lines most of the time, but can jump off the trail to capture something trying to hide. (The Retriever almost was the Bounty Hunter, but I didn't want to cause confusion with the existing Hunter piece.)

176. Mandarin. This piece comes from an interesting variant by Benoit Dauphin called Dervish Chess. I'll probably feature the game's eponymous piece at some time in the future, but for now this is the one I want to focus on.

The Mandarin's move is rather complex. On the surface, it moves somewhat like a lame Nightrider, making first an orthogonal move and then turning 45 degrees a diagonal move. If it isn't capturing, it can only stop after the diagonal move; however, it can capture with either the diagonal or orthogonal move. (afs(afzafz)4W(afzafz)4cW)

Dauphin notes that the piece's move changed many times during the variant's development to be sure it wasn't too strong or too weak; indeed, it seems about on par with a Nightrider (though I'm admittedly just going on impressions there).

The model is an example of "simpler is better"; it's just a traditional Mandarin's hat on a Man piece, adjusted for height.

177. Anti-Spear. Like the Anti-Pawn (which was #77 -- I promise that that's a coincidence!), the Anti-Spear moves exclusively backwards. Basically, just as a normal Spear is a sort of "Pawnrider," so the Anti-Spear is an "Anti-Pawnrider," sliding directly backwards without capturing, or capturing diagonally backwards. (mbRcbB)

Also like the Anti-Pawn, the Anti-Spear should not be in an opening setup. Rather, it should be something that forward-moving Pawns (and/or Spears) promote to at the far end, giving the Anti-Spear the task of coming back. Then, when the Anti-Spear reaches the rank nearest the player, it should promote to something impressive enough to make all that work worth it.

For the piece, I just dropped the Anti-Pawn's cube onto a Spear piece. It seems a tad unwieldy, though; suggestions for alternatives would be welcome.

178. Mountain Nyala. This piece could just as easily be called just Nyala, though since one of its parent pieces is the Bharal, it's certainly not the Lowland Nyala. Its other parent piece is the Zebra, which is why a striped creature was chosen. Those two parent pieces give the Mountain Nyala leaps of (2,3) and (2,5). (ZAX)

This is shown on a 12x12 board, and I don't think I'd use the piece on anything smaller. Its shorter leap means it's not much use at especially close range, and on a smaller board its longer leaps isn't much use either; in fact, on a board smaller than 8x8 it might as well be just a Zebra.

On the other hand, on a 16x16 (or even 20x20) board, I think it can be almost as useful as a Knight is in orthodox chess, at least during the heart of the game (it's worth sacrificing to rescue a slider, though).

179. Left Chariot. and 180. Right Chariot. I've mentioned before that I really prefer symmetry, but this matched pair from large Shogi variants are among the pieces that have me warming to asymmetrical pieces.

The Left Chariot slides directly forward, diagonally forward and to the left, or diagonally backward and to the right; or steps one space directly backward. (fRflBbrBbW)

The Right Chariot is a mirror image: it slides directly forward, diagonally forward and to the right, or diagonally backward and to the left; or steps one space directly backward. (fRfrBblBbW)

In existing games such as Tai Shogi or Maka Dai Dai Shogi, these peices are placed on the respective edges. I tend to disagree with this, since it basically cripples the forward diagonal moves. I personally would prefer to swap the positions (and names), possibly moving them to two or three spaces in from the edge.

I would've posted this pair long ago, but I couldn't come up with a decent idea for a model until just recently (this very morning, in fact). I'm still not sure how well it works in the execution.

The Left Chariot slides directly forward, diagonally forward and to the left, or diagonally backward and to the right; or steps one space directly left. (fRflBbrBlW)

They do one step back, not?

Not according to the Wikipedia article on Taiyoku Shogi, which is what I'm going by.

Not according to the Wikipedia article on Taiyoku Shogi, which is what I'm going by.

The name is Taikyoku Shogi. And in Taikyoku Shogi everything moves different from usual. You should not take it as a standard. Shogi pieces with the same name typically have the same move in all Shogi variants they appear in, except in Taikyoku Shogi, where they then have a move that makes little sense. The Taikyoku moves are highly suspect anyway; the only thing for which there is historic evidence is the inital setup. The moves are claimed by someone who doesn't want to reveal his source, and happens to be the same person that tried to fool people with a fake 'Cambodian Chess' on 9x9, for which he was found out.

A game for which historic rule descriptions are found is Maka Dai Dai Shogi, en there the two chariots step backward,