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AltOrth Hex Chess. Hexagonal variant using pieces moving only one way along each orthogonal. (11x11, Cells: 91) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

Joe Joyce wrote on Sat, Mar 3, 2007 11:24 PM UTC:

Started off reading this thinking 'what's Wellisch?' and, 'hey, this is
pretty good', but neither thought lasted. I found this an interesting idea
poorly executed. The rules could be much easier to understand. They seem to
me to be dense, esoteric, and hard to follow. The intro is a bit much; who,
or how many, can understand merely from what you wrote just what you're
talking about? Please, explain all the terms you use, in common English.
Another example is the setup diagram, which is cluttered with letters and
numbers. One letter, much easier to see and understand, could be used for
each piece, with the sides differentiated by the standard capital and
small letters, with no loss of info. I hate to say your names are worse
than mine, but... Also, knights are not usually considered colorbound
pieces, yet these 'knights' [Viceroys] are confined to 1/3 of the board,
and are closer to alfils in spirit and move than the knight. Finally, I
think the game needs either more pieces or fewer hexes; the pieces you
have are few in number and generally weak. The 3 knights cannot work
together, leaving 5 pieces, 4 of them of moderate strength, to cover 109
hexes arranged in 11 parallel columns. The 5 pieces? A 'hex' rook and 4
half-rooks. You probably need more piece types, as well. I'd suggest
adding 6 more pieces, preferably a combo of medium and [powerful, unlike
the 'knights'] shortrange pieces, and 4 more pawns, building up and
extending the left and right flanks to the 'sides' of the board. 
Interesting idea, nice use of the grain on a hex board, no meat.