Comments/Ratings for a Single Item

There; I've now corrected both the text and the diagrams to reflect (and reference) Tai Shogi and Maka Dai Dai Shogi on the Left and Right Chariots. I may or may not add links to those two as well.

And so, this is a part of why I do this: so people with greater knowledge than mine can offer corrections. (I'm no longer quite #00FF00; closer to #40D099. But the help is still welcome.)

181. Wrench (Handiman). This is another piece intended for my Clue mashup game. It moves like a lame Knight, and can capture either on the destination square or the square it passes through, but not both. (nNcafsmK)

(That move was a hard one for me to figure out how to diagram clearly. I'm pretty sure I failed.)

Sorry, too late, but this piece is already figured in your “blog”

The Luna Pawn? I sure don't find it. By my accounting, the Pawns I've featured have been the Chicken Pawn (#29), Piglet Pawn (#42), Linebacker Pawn (#46), Zombie Pawn (#52), Anti-Pawn (#77), Mongolian Pawn (#88), Mecklenbeck Pawn (#150), and of course the Luna Pawn (#175). Even a manual search doesn't yield a duplicate.

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.

The counterargument

Asymmetrical pieces deserve rather more exposure imo :‌)

Asymmetrical pieces deserve rather more exposure imo :‌)

I'll agree with that much; and one of the Variants I have planned for the near future focuses on asymmetrical pieces that are left/right mirror images.

And I did say that I tend to disagree. :)

182. Free Bear. For my game Hundred Acre Chess, inspired by Winnie the Pooh, I had a bit of a puzzle about what to do about Pooh-Bear himself; the Bear, as an alternate form of the Squirrel, didn't seem quite right for a piece that was to take the place of the Queen (next to King Christopher Robin), and represent the stories' main character. This historical piece from Shogi variants saved the day.

The Free Bear slides diagonally like a Bishop, or sideways like a Rook; or may leap two spaces diagonally forward (BsRfA).

Having played a few games of HAC against the Interactive Diagram's AI, I can say that this handles its role nicely.

As happy as I am with this piece for use with HAC, I acknowledge that a less whimsical version is needed. I also need a good Bear piece for use as a Squirrel alternate. I have an old one of the latter that still uses the head of an imported bear figure; I haven't quite figured out how to make my own Bear head yet.

To my taste this bear is far from the Staunton-style, well, at least the idea I have of it.

Yeah... like I said, a great choice for Hundred Acre Chess, not so much for most other games.

183. Lead Pipe (Plumber). I might as well finish off the classic weapons from the original Clue game.

So far, to list them alphabetically, I've featured -- albeit sometimes under other names -- the Candlestick (#168), Knife (#183), Revolver (#51), Rope (#10*), and Wrench (#181). My hope is to make all of the "weapon" pieces in the game -- including the Poison (#25) and one other (see below) -- roughly equal in power, with little if any overlap.

The Lead Pipe, which can be the Plumber in a non-Clue setting, can move to and capture in any adjacent space, or make a rifle capture to any of those spaces. (KcabK)

This is another case where Musketeer's board painter doesn't really have the symbols needed for the moves, but then again neither does any other system that I'm aware of.

This is one of several pieces that I initially made after importing someone else's work, then went about sculpting my own. I mention this because I got this one particularly (and surprisingly) close to the other's work, and I'm quite happy with it.

Now, the Big Question: The Clue mashup will have a total of eight weapons, including the classic six and the Poison (the most often-seen weapon in expanded games). What should be the eighth weapon? Taking weapons from various expansion games (like VCR Clue, Clue: Master Detective, and others), the options are Axe, Baseball Bat, Dumbbell, Horseshoe, and Trophy. I'm personally leaning toward the Axe, but I'd like to hear what others think (with or without looking at the Thingiverse page that shows the proposed moves).

*The listing says it's #11, but it's really #10. I do need to edit that stretch of mis-numbered entries some time.

184. President. This is the first piece of my creation to be featured (or at least mentioned) in someone else's game: Lev Grigoriev's Modern Republican Chess (not officially published as of this writing, but hopefully soon). It also features in my own Dealer's Chess.

The President is an alternative Royal piece, stepping one or two spaces orthogonally. (W2)

It's actually a little less powerful than a King; the second step of the orthogonal move doesn't quite make up for the lack of a diagonal move.

A Man figure with a flag over it seemed like the logical way to represent a President.

185. Nereid. This is another piece that I found on the Who is Who on Eight by Eight article, and which I find rather interesting. The Nereid slides like a Bishop, but can only capture when it can jump over another piece, landing in the first space beyond its obstacle. ([cB-fmF]mB)

In the illustration, the White Nereid can capture the Black Rook by jumping over the White Knight, or approach -- but not leap over or capture -- the Black Pawn (though that probably isn't a good idea). I can move freely in the two backward directions.

In mythology, the Nereid were sea nymphs, representing all that was good, kind, and beautiful about the sea. Representing that in a 3D piece was quite a challenge, and a drop of water with fairy wings was the best I could figure out.

gB is a Bishopper. Nereid is a Bishop that captures like a Bishop-Locust.

What would be the Betza for that, then? BcafmB?

[cB-fmF]mB

OK, thanks. I'll have to fix the diagram as well as the text, so it'll probably be tomorrow before I can manage it.

Thanks for the correction. I really was having a hard time with that one.

186. Rhinoceros and 187. Gryffon. This is a pair that, despite being fairly familiar to most chess variant aficionados, I repeatedly get confused; after Jean-Louis caught that error on my Thingiverse page, I decided to post them here so they'd be a bit more set in stone.*

The Rhinoceros (more recently renamed Manticore) moves one step orthogonally, and then proceeds diagonally outward, sliding like a Bishop.

The Gryffon (I prefer that spelling for the piece, and "griffin" for the creature) starts with moving one space diagonally, and then proceeds sliding orthogonally like a Rook.

(Not the other way around, Bob. Remember that.)

There's some division on whether these pieces can stop after making just the first step. To my mind, they normally can, though it's completely legitimate to have a "Ski-Rhino" and/or "Ski-Gryffon" if that's what you like. I even designed separate pieces for those versions.

As a side note, the name "Aanca" has been applied to both of these pieces, creating enough confusion that I refuse to use it on either.

*Actually, to use a phrase that a friend of mine used to use, they're more like "set in iron" -- not easily changed, but still possible with a good argument.

You don't have the full story. To avoid putting oil on the fire (this issue of bent-riders surfacing endlessly), I recommend that you link with our Piececlopedia. That will avoid further confusion. We had Griffon (piececlopedia) or Gryphon (Wikipedia). Now, you add Gryffon. !!!

https://www.chessvariants.com/piececlopedia.dir/griffon.html

https://www.chessvariants.com/page/MSmanticore

What you call ski-rhino seems to be the Unicorn, the Unicornio of the Spanish codex.

https://www.chessvariants.com/rules/grantacedrex

De facto this proposal to name the W-then-B a Manticore (which I never liked anyway) turned out to be a bust; everyone using that piece seems to use a Rhino to represent it. Probably the problem of finding a distinguishable and recognizable representation of a Manticore (for which no one probably knows what it is anyway, without looking it up) is rather difficult.

Better switch to calling it Rhino...

The Manticore. A creepy monster with a human face and three rows of teeth.

There's so much confusion surrounding the names for those two that I'm on the verge of just calling them Merv and Fred. (I'm not entirely kidding.)

The Manticore. A creepy monster with a human face and three rows of teeth.

Oh, for just a moment there I thought you were talking about a certain former President of ours....

We had Griffon (piececlopedia) or Gryphon (Wikipedia). Now, you add Gryffon. !!!

There are three accepted spelling of this word – Griffin, Griffon, and Gryphon – and Gryffon is none of these.

There are three accepted spelling of this word – Griffin, Griffon, and Gryphon – and Gryffon is none of these.

Argh.

Well, I keep saying that this is part of why I do this.

I have other fixing to do today, and I'll include that.