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@ Bob Greenwade[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Bob Greenwade wrote on Mon, Feb 26, 2024 04:18 PM UTC:

223. Hellstripe. This piece was inspired somewhat by the Worsen, which I posted last Friday. It similarly moves in a star-like fashion, making repeated leaps with 135° turns in between. However, its leaps are a Zebra's (2,3) leaps, and it can capture enemy pieces on each leap, even returning to its starting point (provided the path isn't blocked by a friendly piece). ((mcabq)Z)

These moves criss-cross so many times on a diagram, that trying to post a full diagram would be a mess. Instead, here are two of its possible move patterns:

Of course, two other paths are available by just reversing the arrows on these stars, and each can be rotated to the other four diagonal (blue) or orthogonal (green) directions, for a total of 16 possible paths. Many of the spaces are on more than one path, too, so there may be many ways to approach a space.

Still, even though the Hellstripe could potentially capture as many as 7 pieces with a single move, it's highly unlikely that a set of enemy pieces would ever be in the positions needed to do that much damage. I'd anticipate three as being an achievement, and four a rarity.

This diagram simply shows all of the spaces where the Hellstripe could land.

The model is simply a Zebra with a Worsen on its head, and a flame on top of that to indicate the "hellish" aspect of its multi-capture capability.